CHAPTER XXV 



THE WHALES. DOLPHINS AND MANATEES 



THE Cetacea, or Whales and Dolphins, hold a primitive position 

 among the mammals, their nearest relatives appearing to be the 

 Edentata. As Professor Beddard points out, there are quite a 

 number of striking anatomical features in which a likeness is 

 shown between these apparently diverse orders of mammals. 

 The Whales form one of the most extraordinary groups of the 

 mammals, for they are warm-blooded, air-breathers, and sucklers 

 of their young, and are most remarkably adapted for life in a 

 watery element. Most of the Cetaceans are of a club shape, with 

 compact, more or less cylindrical body, and long, narrow, tapering 

 tail. The head is in such continuity with the body that of neck 

 there seems nothing. In some there are upright fleshy back fins, 

 in others these are lacking. The gristly caudal fin is horizontal, 

 and not upright or rayed like a fish's. The body is smooth and 

 devoid of hair. The eye is remarkably small, and the ear orifice 

 is so diminutive as to seem deficient. The head is either rounded, 

 massive, or has a long snout. There are no hind-limbs, and only 

 in the enormous Whalebone Whales have the rudiments of any 

 been found. Small pelvic bones, however, are present, embedded 

 in the flesh at the setting on of the tail. The fore-limbs, which 

 are ordinarily termed "flippers/' have the usual bones extremely 

 broadened and flattened ; the free part equivalent to the hand 

 being encased in a rigid or stiff nailless membrane ; and in a few 

 instances the phalanges are exceedingly numerous, producing a 

 long-fingered peculiarity met with in no other mammal. The 

 nostrils, often a single crescentic aperture, open right on the top 

 of the head, and, except in the Sperm Whale, not in front as in 

 all other mammals. The lungs are large, and by an extraordinary 

 modification of the larynx, and the ability to compress firmly or 

 close the blow-hole (nasal aperture), the Cetacean is enabled to 



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