690 



CETOLOGY. 



Aiiarnak 

 tribe. 



Cctology. small, and the upper lip extends a little beyond the 

 % T'" -I/ lower. The eye is situated almost below the opening 

 of the blow-hole, is about an inch in diameter, and 

 has the iris of a chesnut colour. 



This species is also a native of the northern ocean, 

 but several specimens of it have occasionally been 

 thrown on the British coast. One of these was cast 

 on shore at Frieston, a village near Boston in Lin- 

 colnshire, and an account of it was transmitted by 

 Sir Joseph Banks to M. La Cepede, though this 

 gentleman has, with unaccountable carelessness, de- 

 scribed it as having been found in the seas which 

 wash the coast of Boston, in latitude 40, a descrip- 

 tion which evidently led to the supposition that the 

 place was Boston in America. Another specimen 

 was cast on shore at the entrance of the sound of 

 Weesdale in Shetland, in the year 1808, and is par- 

 ticularly described by Mr Fleming in {he Memoirs 

 already quoted. This individual was only 12 feet 

 long, and apparently had not attained its full size. 



The narwhal is mentioned by the late Professor 

 Walker of Edinburgh, (see Walker's Essays p. 227,) 

 as having been frequently seen about the Zetland 

 islands, and he alludes to the common species or 

 Monodon Monoceros, Linn, the only species then 

 known. 



GENUS IV. ANARNACUS. Anurndk. 



Otho Fabricius, in his Fauna Grcenlundica, descri- 

 bed a species of whale, called by the Greenlanders 

 Anarnafc, from the purgative quality of its flesh and 

 fat. M. Bonnaterre, in his Celologie, considered it as 

 a species of narwhal, and called it Monodon Spurius ; 

 but M. La Ce; ede, with more propriety, has formed 

 of it a new genus, with the following character : 



One or two small crooked teeth in the upper jaw ; 

 no teeth in the lower jaw ; a fin on the back. Hist. 

 Nat. des Get aces, p. 164. 



Species. Anarnacus Grcenlandicus, Greenland Anar- 

 nak. 



Monodon Spurhts, Bonnat. Encyl. Method. Shaw. 

 Gen. Zool. v. ii. part 2. Anarnak. Grcenlandois, 

 La Cepede, p. 164. 



This is one of the smallest cetaceous animals. It is 

 of an oblong r< unded form, and of a black colour. 

 The inside of the mouth is destitute of teeth, the two 

 tusks which characterise the genus being attached to 

 the upper jaw, and each about an inch in length, and 

 covered at the top. It has a single orifice for the 

 blow holes situated on the top of the head. It inha- 

 bits the seas that wash the coasts of Greenland, but 

 seldom approaches the shore. 



ORDER III. SUBDENTATE CETACEA, or 

 those with teeth only in the lower jaw. 



GENUS V. PHYSETER. Cachalots, or Spermaceti 

 Whales. 



Cachalot The animals of this tribe are remarkable for the 



tribe. size of their head, which in some species is equal to the 



half, and in others to the third of the whole animal. 

 The upper jaw is excessively broad and deep, and has 

 usually a few indistinct teeth almost entirely covered 

 with the gum. The lower jaw is long and nai row, 

 enters into a fissure in the upper jaw, and is furnish- 



ed on each side with a row of thick conical teeth, Cetolojy. 

 more or less obtuse. The blow holes approach each V ^*Y 11 "^' 

 other within the skull towards the fore part of the 

 snout, where they terminate in a common external 

 opening. Below the snout is the principal cavity 

 that contains the substance called spetmaceti ; and it 

 is chiefly from these animals that ambergris is ob- 

 tained. Some of them have a fin, and others a cal- 

 lous protuberance on the back. 



Eight species of this tribe have been distinguished. 

 The following are the most important. 



Species 1. Physeter Macrocephalus, Great-headed 

 Cachalot, or Great Spermaceti Whale. 



Grand Cachalot, Bonnat. Encycl. Method. Cachalot Great sper- 

 Macrocephale, La Cepede, p. 166. maceti 



This species grows to the length of nearly 60 feet, a e *- 

 and is often 30 in circumference in the largest part of 

 the head. Its head forms by far the most conspicu- 

 ous part of the animal, and may be said to exceed the 

 rest of the body in magnitude. The back is more or 

 less convex, and near its middle there are the rudi- 

 ments of a fin, which is short, directed backwards, 

 and appearing as if cut off abruptly at the end. The 

 back of the animal is of a black or slate blue colour, 

 sometimes spotted with white, and the belly is white. 



The head has the appearance of an immense box, 

 rounded and obtuse at one end, and rising into a slight 

 convexity at the neck. On each side of the upper 

 jaw is a row of holes for receiving the teeth of the 

 lower jaw, and the intervals between these cavities 

 are filled up with the rudiments of teeth, just appear- 

 ing a little beyond the gum. The eyes are small, 

 furnished with eye-lids, and situated at a prodigious 

 distance from the snout ; the external orifices of the 

 ears are scarcely perceptible ; the tongue is of a 

 square form, and of a livid red colour; and the 

 breathing hole is about 6 inches in diameter, and 

 placed just above the end of the snout. 



Both the swimming paws and tail are comparative- 

 ly small, and the lobes of the latter are long and 

 pointed, and have a waving margin. The genital or- 

 gans resemble those of the other cetacea, and the pe- 

 nis of the male is sometimes eight feet in length. 



The great spermaceti whale is found most com- 

 monly in the Greenland seas, and about Davis's 

 Straits in North America ; but has occasionally been 

 seen in the German ocean, and the British channel. 

 A considerable number of them were cast on shore 

 on the coast of Lower Brittany in France, in the year 

 1784. 



This species feeds on lump fish and dog fish, and is 

 said even to attack and swallow the shark. One of 

 these animals was vomited entire by a spermaceti 

 whale, on being struck by a harpoon in the Greenland 

 seas. The shark was four yards long, and, on open- 

 ing the stomach of the whale, several fishes bones, 

 nearly a fathom long, were foundjin it. (Crantz's 

 Greenland, vol. i. p. 113.) 



It is said to swim with great velocity, and to rise 

 very high above the surface of the water. 



This animal yields a considerable quantity of sper- 

 maceti, for which chiefly it is taken, though its flesh, 

 skin, tongue, and intestines, are eaten by the Green- 

 landers. The flesh is of a pale red like that of pork, 

 and the tongue is esteemed a great delicacy when 

 roasted. The blubber is about five or six inches 



