ZOOLOGY. 



invisible to man, when we thus behold creatures of 

 such stupendous magnitude as the Sperm Whale, 

 roaming the seas in very large assemblies, and all 

 replete with food and of unwieldy corpulence. 



It is probable that the Cachalot occasionally indulges 

 in other food than the nutritious and helpless Sepia. 

 While we were cruising in the North Pacific, in the 

 year 1835, a School Whale, upon being attacked by 

 the boats, rejected from her stomach a bony fish, which 

 was secured and put into my possession. It was 

 rather more than a foot long, of deep and compressed 

 form, and covered with rough and silvery scales. It 

 was uninjured, beyond some slight ravages of diges- 

 tion, which had impaired the surface of the body and 

 removed the membranes of the fins. In its stomach 

 were small fragments of cuttle-fish. As it was not easy 

 to conceive, that the Cachalot could take a fish of 

 this size and structure by direct pursuit, I felt inclined 

 to the opinion, that it had been accidentally received 

 within the mouth of the whale, and swallowed together 

 with the large portions of cuttle-fish with which it was 

 also rejected. Some whalers assert, that they have 

 seen Cachalots throw up rock-cod, and even sharks. 



Owing to the great projection of the snout beyond 

 the lower-jaw, it may be requisite for this whale to turn 

 on its side or back to seize its more bulky prey a sup- 

 position which is strengthened by the fact, that when 

 the animal attacks a boat with its mouth, it invariably 

 assumes a reversed posture, carrying the lower jaw 

 above the object it is attempting to bite. 



In common with most terrestrial animals which herd 

 together in great numbers, Sperm Whales are naturally 

 timid, and disposed to fly from the remotest appearance 

 of danger : and although many instances occur amongst 



