38 INTRODUCTION. 



we could not overtake the other. These herbivo- 

 rous Cete differ, in many important particulars, from 

 the true Whales. They are not like them blowers, 

 with a spiracle upon the summit of the head, but 

 have regular nostrils like quadrupeds ; nor do they 

 frequent the deep ocean, but habitually resort to the 

 sea-shores, and the estuaries of rivers. In both 

 these particulars the herbivorous Cete associate more 

 closely with the Amphibia; but from them, again, 

 they differ in their structure, in that their extremi- 

 ties, more especially the posterior, almost wholly 

 disappear; whilst they are still present, though 

 much modified, in the Seals ; and also, because 

 they never leave the water, whilst, as we have al- 

 ready noted, the Amphibia often do. To these two 

 groups we propose to add a third. The term Cete, 

 we remark, though now confined in the manner above 

 referred to, was, by the ancients, used in a wider sense, 

 being made to include, along with the Whales, those 

 animals which they regarded as Sea-Monsters. We 

 have but very obscure intimation of what these 

 Monsters really were ; they were not true or com- 

 mon fish, but were reputed to be prodigious ani- 

 mals, whose form and nature were imperfectly un- 

 derstood; and which were peculiarly the objects of 

 vulgar wonder and superstitious dread. Now, it so 

 happens that, even at the present day, it is asserted 

 that such Monsters exist, whose characters all the 

 assiduity of Naturalists has not hitherto satisfac- 

 torily ascertained, and the consideration of these will 

 form the concluding portion of this volume. The 



