GENERAL CHARACTERS 229 



in scenes of Arctic adventure ; but this is nothing more (allowance 

 being made for the Whale's peculiar mode of breathing) than what 

 always follows severe wounds of the respiratory organs of other 

 mammals. 



All the Cetacea are predaceous, subsisting on living animal food 

 of some kind. One genus alone (Orca) eats other warm-blooded 

 animals, as Seals, and even members of its own order, both large 

 and small. Some feed on fish, others on small floating crustaceans, 

 pteropods, and medusae, while the principal staple of the food of 

 many is constituted by the various species of cephalopods, Loligo 

 and other Teuthida, which must abound in certain seas in vast 

 numbers, as they form almost the entire support of some of the 

 largest members of the order. In size the Cetacea vary much, some 

 of the smaller Dolphins scarcely exceeding 4 feet in length, while 

 others are the most colossal of all animals. It is true that most 

 statements of their bulk found in general and even zoological 

 literature are greatly exaggerated, but even when reduced to 

 their actual dimensions (which will be stated under the respective 

 genera) some of the existing Whales exceed in size any animal 

 living either at present or in former times of which we have any 

 certain evidence. With some exceptions, the Cetacea generally are 

 timid inoffensive animals, active in their movements, and very 

 affectionate in their disposition towards one another, especially the 

 mother towards the young, of which there is usually but one, or 

 at most two at a time. They are generally gregarious, swimming 

 in herds or " schools " (so termed by the whalers) sometimes 

 amounting to many thousands in number ; though some species 

 have hitherto only been met with either singly or in pairs. 



Although by their mode of life so far removed from close ob- 

 servation that it is impossible to become as familiar with them in 

 their natural condition as with many other animals, Whales are in 

 many respects the most interesting and wonderful of all creatures ; 

 and there is much in their structure and habits well worthy of 

 study, much that is difficult to understand, and much that leads to 

 great generalisations and throws light upon far-reaching philosophical 

 speculations. One of the first lessons which a study of these 

 animals affords is that, in the endeavour to discover what a creature 

 really is, from what others it is descended, and to what it is related, 

 the general outAvard appearance affords little clue, and we must go 

 deep below the surface to find out the essential characteristics of its 

 nature. There was once, and may be still in many places, a 

 common idea that a Whale is a fish. To realise the fallacy of this 

 notion we have only to consider what a fish really is, what under 

 all the diversities of form, size, and colour known among fishes 

 there is common to them all, and we see that in everything which 

 characterises a true fish and separates it from other classes, as 



