164 ZOOLOGY. 



characteristic in their form. In aged males they are of 

 great size and solidity, and attain the weight of from 

 two to four pounds each ; but their crowns are never 

 proportionately raised above the jaw, and always pre- 

 sent a broad, obtuse, and much-worn appearance. 



The entire structure of the tooth of this whale is 

 ivory. The exposed crown has a yellow and polished 

 appearance; while the fang, concealed in the jaw, is 

 dull- white, and grooved on its surface. Like the ivory 

 teeth of other animals, they have no covering of 

 enamel. In the young and growing whale, the base of 

 each tooth is cylindrical, and perforated by a conical 

 cavity, filled with a vascular pulp, intermediate in 

 structure to fat and glandular substance. As the tooth 

 becomes perfected by age, this cavity is gradually 

 obliterated from above downward, and the fang as- 

 sumes a more flattened or compressed form, and be- 

 comes converted into a solid mass of ivory. It is 

 not unusual to find in the sockets, and around the 

 roots, of the teeth, superfluous deposits of ivory, in 

 the form of large and irregularly-shaped plates. 



The skin of this whale emits a peculiar half-fishy 

 odour, which, although but slight, is perceptibly com- 

 municated to the pure sea-air. It is smooth and naked, 

 (or entirely destitute of hair,) and secretes from its 

 surface an unctuous fluid, which resists the action of 

 water. It has almost invariably a very clean appearance ; 

 which may partly be attributed to the rapid and distant 

 journeys these animals are constantly performing, in 

 quest of their food, and partly to the clearness of the 

 deep waters they frequent ; since the True- Whale of the 

 South, (B. AustraliSy) which affects the more shallow 

 seas, and which is much more sluggish in its move- 

 ments, has its body encrusted with barnacles and other 



