166 ZOOLOGY. 



Filaments, or nervous papillse, arise from every part 

 of the skin, as a thick mat, and stand erect, imbedded 

 in the layer of colouring matter. When separated 

 from the latter substance they are flaccid and colourless, 

 and may be smoothed in different directions, like the 

 pile of velvet or hair, whence they are sometimes de- 

 scribed by sailors as " the hair of the Sperm Whale." 

 Their size, abundance, and general distribution, would 

 lead to the opinion that this whale is endowed with an 

 acute sense of touch, which may, under some circum- 

 stances, compensate for a defective condition of other 

 senses ; and this supposition is farther sanctioned, by 

 the rapidity with which the animal responds to the 

 contact of an extraneous body; and the reliance it 

 appears to place, when suspicious of danger, upon the 

 sensitive power of its flukes. In the eyelids and some 

 few other parts, which are without fat, the thickness of 

 the true skin does not exceed the eighth of an inch ; 

 in every other portion of the animal its density is the 

 same as that of the blubber, with which its structure is 

 identified. 



The envelope of lard, or blubber, is of compact 

 texture, perfectly white, and without odour. It varies 

 in thickness, (according to the size of the whale, or the 

 part of the body whence it is removed,) from four or 

 six inches to eight or fourteen. The breast, dorsal 

 hump, and upper margin of the tail, afford the thickest 

 blubber on the body. 



The muscles, although not remarkable for extraor- 

 dinary development, or size of their fibres, are well 

 proportioned to the bulk of the animal. They have no 

 odour, beyond that which is perceptible in the raw 

 flesh of cattle ; and, when stale, do not emit any phos- 

 phorescent light, like fish. A fleshy layer, or panniculus 



