MARINE MAMMALS, AND FISHES 107 



Unlike the fishes, whose temperature more nearly 

 approximates to that of the medium in which they 

 live, they are forced to clothe themselves in some 

 way against the chill. Therefore the inner layers 

 of fat, or blubber, and the outer covering of fur ; 

 which have become such incentives to adventure, 

 and valuable articles of commerce. 



We, on the north-east coast, are so accustomed 

 to all things northern, that we have almost begun 

 to think of Greenland as an extension of our own 

 islands, a somewhat more distant Orkney, or 

 Shetland. The growl of the polar bear, and the 

 yelp of the Arctic fox may be heard in the 

 neighbourhood of our harbours, at the back end ; 

 and the Esquimaux has become a familiar figure 

 in our winter streets. Our museums are stocked 

 with every form of circum-polar life. 



The smell of whale oil, hanging heavily on the 

 breeze, is one of the disagreeable features of our 

 acquaintance with the Arctic regions. But, albeit 

 so familiar with the blubber and bone, very few 

 of us have seen leviathan in the flesh. The cases 

 are so rare and exceptional in which the right 

 whale (Balcena mysticetus) has been known to come 

 south, that he may almost be excluded from our 

 ocean fauna. This attachment to the margin of 



