A mono- the Sharks and Whales ' 417 



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before the last. In it Miss or Master Ceta does not 

 appear, being probably in the ratio of the non- 

 existing. It seems to me to consist principally of a 

 species of horse- or rather whale -play, a form of 

 which is, I believe, to be found among ourselves 

 under the name of romping. A sort of prelude to 

 the service of that goddess before whom all ani- 

 mated nature bows the knee sooner or later, however 

 different may be the rituals employed by different 

 races and ages. Let me remark in passing that the 

 study of these introductory ceremonies has been 

 much neglected. They are worth the closest study 

 of the true natural historian. Among the higher and 

 lower mammalians, as well as among birds and 

 fishes, there is much curious and valuable matter to 

 be gained concerning them ; and a book on The 

 Universality of Flirtation, with descriptions of its 

 various forms in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 

 would, with or without plates, be a most interesting 

 one, and worthy the labour of Darwin himself. 



I have seen yet another pleasant act, in which 

 the cow whale and her calf appear, like the king and 

 two fiddlers in the old play Solus. How they love 

 each other, those two ! Not very long ago I saw, 

 well within a hundred yards of the yacht's side, a 

 baby whale, some ten feet long, tumbling and splash- 

 ing about with all that keen, if blundering, enjoyment 

 of recently-acquired vitality, so characteristic of the 

 young of all animals when they feel each muscle 

 growing into new strength at every movement, and 



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