534- APPENDIX. 



constitutes one of the most singular circumstances 

 belonging to this species, as they have most other 

 parts in common with quadrupeds. It is a sub- 

 stance, I believe, peculiar to the Whale, and of 

 the same nature as horn ; or similar to that which 

 constitutes hair, nails, claws, feathers, &c. It is 

 wholly composed of an animal substance, and ex- 

 tremely elastic. 



Whalebone consists of thin plate's, of some 

 breadth, and in some of very considerable length, 

 the breadth and length in some degree corre- 

 sponding with one another ; and when longest 

 they are commonly broadest, but not always so. 

 These plates are very different in size in different 

 parts of the same animal's mouth ; more especially 

 in the large Whalebone Whale, whose 'upper jaw- 

 does not pass parallel upon the under, but makes 

 an arch, the semidiameter of which is about one 

 fourtli of the length of the jaw. The head in my 

 possession is nineteen feet long, the semidiameter 

 not quite five feet: if this proportion is preserved, 

 those Whales which have whalebone fifteen feet 

 long must be of an immense size. 



These plates are placed in several rows, encom- 

 passing the outer skirts of the upper jaw, similar 

 to teeth in other animals. They stand parallel to 

 each other, having one edge towards the circum- 

 ference of the mouth, and the other towards the 

 centre or cavity. They are placed near together 

 iu the Piked Whale, not being a quarter of an 

 inch asunder at the greatest distance, yet differ- 



