8o THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



under the skin there is a thick layer of fat or 

 blubber, which serves the double purpose of 

 keeping the body warm and lightening its 

 weight in proportion to its size. 



The whale catches the minute animals on 

 which it feeds by swimming with its mouth 

 open. But it must be able to breathe atmos- 

 pheric air, not air dissolved in water as a fish 

 does, and the nostrils, instead of being on the 

 snout as in other mammals, are far back on the 

 forehead, so that breathing can go on at the 

 same time as swallowing. In short, as some- 

 one has said, if you took away from the whale 

 all that is adaptation to its mode of life there 

 would be very little of it left. 



The teeth, when there are any, have changed 

 in character, but in the "right" whale they 

 disappear before birth, and have been replaced 

 by long horny plates frayed at the ends, which 

 hang down into the mouth. There are from 

 three to four hundred of these plates, which 

 form the valuable "whalebone" of commerce. 

 The whale swims with open mouth through 

 shoals of small animals like the sea-butterflies 

 and water-fleas we have spoken of, and when 

 it has secured a good mouthful it shuts its jaws 

 and lets the water trickle out at the sides of 



