Whales as the Whalers Knew Them 177 



The main artery leading from the heart is a 

 foot in diameter. The lungs are of corresponding 

 capacity. When the blood flows purified from 

 the lungs it does not go directly into the circu- 

 lation, as in other animals, but into a cellular 

 reservoir (called an arterial plexus, by one writer), 

 and there it is stored uncontaminated, to be drawn 

 into circulation as needed. It is agreed among 

 scientific writers who have described the whale 

 that in this storage reservoir (so to speak) of 

 aerated blood is found the explanation of the 

 ability of the whale to remain under water, even 

 when wounded, for more than an hour. The 

 bottle-nose whale (a small member of the sperm 

 family) remains under for more than two hours, 

 and then comes to the surface with enough speed 

 to carry it through the air in a graceful curve. 

 Now, in connection with these facts about the 

 whale, consider the condition of the woodchuck, 

 a land animal that has no storage reservoir of 

 aerated blood. As the writer has observed, 

 woodchucks while hibernating have been known 

 to live when their dens were entirely under water 

 for a period of at least forty-eight hours. This 



