C E T A C E A. 



they are now to be met with ; and it is certain that, 

 at this time, there were very large specimens not 

 unfrequently seen in the Mediterranean ; and, as 

 these are all described as toothed whales, there is 

 no doubt of their being the spermaceti whales, which 

 are now more abundantly found in the opposite 

 hemisphere, where they form the principal subject of 

 attraction in the south sea fishing. 



These animals are the Cnchalots or spermaceti ivhales, 

 forming the genus phi/xcter in the systems of zoology. 

 As many as eight species or varieties are mentioned ; 

 but we must confine our brief notice to two or three 

 of the principal ones. 



The most remarkable character of these animals is 

 the enormous size of their head, which is never less 

 than equal to a third of the whole animal, and some- 

 times it is equal to a half. Much of the great mass 

 is occupied by the upper jaw, which is excessively 

 broad and deep, while the lower jaw is long and 

 narrow, and so thin, as compared with the other, 

 that it appears to apply to the rest of the head as 

 if it were the lid of a box, only that it opens and 

 shuts on the under side and not the upper. The 

 upper jaw has no projecting teeth, but is covered 

 with a very firm cartilaginous gum ; but, in the body 

 of this gum, a greater or smaller number of imper- 

 fectly developed teeth are usually found, though 

 even their points do not reach the surface. In the 

 lower jaw there are strong and thick teeth, of a coni- 

 cal form, usually rather blunt at the points, but 

 formed of very strong and hard ivory, and therefore, 

 when the size and motion of the jaw, and the immense 

 volume of head against which it acts, are taken into 

 the account, these teeth are very powerful weapons. 

 The blow-holes are two in number, within the skull ; 

 but they open by one external orifice in the top of 

 the head. Before them, and occupying a consider- 

 able portion of the snout, there is found the sper- 

 maceti, stearine, or crystallisable fat, on account of 

 which the animal gets its common English name. 

 As is the case with the whalebone whales, some of 

 the species of this genus have a fin on the back, and 

 others not ; but those that have no fin have a dorsal 

 protuberance, or rudiment of a fin, imbedded in the 

 substance of the back. The substance known by 

 the name of ambergris (or grey amber, which has 

 no resemblance to amber properly so called,) is said 

 to be chiefly found in the intestines of this genus of 

 animals, or discharged by them, and floating in the 

 sea, or cast upon the shores. 



Physeter macrocephalus, the great-headed or great 

 spermaceti whale, is one of the largest of the genus. 

 It is found in the Greenland seas, but it is a much 

 more ranging animal than the whalebone whales, 

 and thus it is not unfrequently met with on different 

 parts of the shores of Europe, specimens measuring 

 upwards of sixty feet in length, and ten in diameter, 

 have been met. with; and they are perhaps the most 

 shapeless of all mammalia, appearing on the water 

 Jike the summit of a black rock of no inconsiderable 

 dimensions. The head justifies the application of 

 the term macrocephalm, or great-headed, for it occu- 

 pies nearly half the length, and more than half the 

 volume, of the animal when young. This head has the 

 appearance of a great clumsy box, blunt and rounded 

 at the fore part, and marked posteriorly by a slight 

 elevation above the line of the neck. The eyes are 

 very small in comparison with the size of the animal, 

 and they are furnished with eyelids very nvuch re- 



sembling those of the land mammalia. These eyes 

 are very distant from the extremity of the snout, so 

 much so that they are not very far from the middle 

 oT the length, exclusive of the tail fin. From their 

 position, it is quite impossible for the animal to see 

 before it in any way, and an object must be at a very 

 considerable distance before it can be seen with both 

 eyes in any position. The blow-hole, which is about 

 six inches in diameter, is placed forwards, just above 

 the end of the snout ; and the external openings of 

 the ears are so small as scarcely to be discernable. 

 Indeed when the animal is in a state of repose upon 

 the water, in which state it floats high, especially 

 with the head, which is rendered specifically light by 

 the vast accumulation of spermaceti, this whale, 

 seen at a little distance, has very little appearance of 

 being a living creature at all. In the upper jaw, that 

 is, in the hard cartilaginous gum with which the lower 

 surface of this jaw is covered, there arc holes answer- 

 ing to the teeth in the under jaw, which fit into those 

 holes, so that the two hard gums can be made to bear 

 firmly against each other ; and, independently of the 

 teeth, the animal can give the same sort of bite as is 

 given by the horny jaws of the larger water tortoises, 

 only the bite is more formidable in proportion as this 

 whale is the larger animal of the two. The upper 

 part of the body is dark, a sort of deep slate-colour, 

 approaching to black, but having a tinge both of blue 

 and of green. The under is white, and there are 

 often white spots on the sides, and sometimes on the 

 back. The tongue, which is large arid square, is of 

 a dull red colour. The swimming paws, and also the 

 tail, are proportionally smaller than those of the 

 whalebone whales, and the lobes of the tail are long 

 and pointed. This organ does not form nearly so 

 powerful a weapon as the tail of the great whalebone 

 whale ; but the action of the rest of the body of the 

 animal is much more energetic; and it dashes along 

 the water with great velocity, appearing to ride very 

 light and buoyant, compared with many others of the 

 race. From the size its weight must be enormous, 

 and its gambols in the water make much agitation, 

 and render the approach to it in a boat a matter of 

 much hazard. Still, even the Greenlanders, simple 

 as are their weapons and other instruments, attack 

 this formidable animal with great readiness, and 

 esteem it one of the greatest prizes which the sea 

 affords. The capture of it is altogether a much more 

 hazardous matter than that of the whalebone whale ; 

 but from the superiority of spermaceti to the blubber 

 fat of the other, it is a much more valuable prize. 

 The greatest accumulation of fatty matter is in the 

 head of this animal ; for the blubber or accumulation 

 in the adipose tissue over the general surface of the 

 body, is small in quantity and inferior in quality, con- 

 sisting in great part of membrane. On the back, 

 where it is thickest, it docs not exceed five or six 

 inches, while on the belly it is less than this. 



The Greenlanders however turn it to great ac- 

 count. The tongue, which is of a very large size, is 

 one of their dainties ; and they also eat the flesh, the 

 skin and the intestines, the first of which is pale 

 coloured, not unlike pork in appearance, and, in 

 young specimens, said to be not much inferior. The 

 bones are used as timber, and partially al?o in the 

 manufacture of weapons and smaller articles. 



Physeter Triimpo. This is the blunt-headed sper- 

 maceti whale, one of the largest of the species and a 

 very valuable one; but it is even more daring than 



