60 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



He states, the apparatus is used for getting rid of 

 the superfluous water from the mouth, and that this 

 takes place as well under water as on the surface. 

 " As often as the whale opens its enormous jaws, 

 its mouth of course immediately fills with water ; 

 but it is only the fish, fuci, or small marine ani- 

 mals, ' unsafe within the wave of such commotion,' 

 that are actually swallowed. The water itself is 

 partly regurgitated and partly made to pass upwards, 

 and by a peculiar and very admirable mechanism is 

 thrown out by the blow-holes. When the animal 

 breathes on the surface, a moist vapour, mixed with 

 mucus, is exhaled ; but no water is thrown up, 

 unless the expiration is made beneath the waves, or 

 the creature itself is either in a sportive mood, or 

 under the influence of rage or terror." (Illustra- 

 tions of Zoology by James Wilson, vol. ii.) 



Are we then to understand, that occasionally the 

 mucosity only is discharged, and that sometimes 

 again this is mixed with water ? Among other ar- 

 guments that are used against this latter alternative, 

 Blainville states (Nouv. Diet. Hist. Natur. torn, xix.) 

 that the construction of the parts does not admit of 

 the ingress of water. This is a point to be ascer- 

 tained. Is it true that such a peculiarity of con 

 struction exists in all the genera; and that they 

 have no power to use it for both purposes as occasion 

 may require ? Our own observations, grounded upon 

 the examination of several genera, would lead us to 

 answer that they had this power. In the meanwhile 

 we remark, that as the mechanism is different in 



