The Mighty Deep 



to hunt in couples only, Sperm Whales crowd 

 together in large companies. Sometimes, it is 

 true, lonely specimens are found. They, however, 

 are usually morose and ill-conditioned brutes, 

 ready to fight even men. It has been suggested 

 that perhaps they are thus solitary because of their 

 morose temperament, which has made it impossible 

 for their fellows to put up with their presence. 



Both these huge whales have powerful fluked 

 tails and small flippers. It is curious that inside 

 the flippers are separate branching bones, not 

 unlike the bones of a human hand, only covered 

 with thick skin in one piece, like a fingerless 

 glove. 



This rather seems to indicate that the flippers 

 may be of the nature of hands in embryo. 



The Sperm does not come to the surface for 

 air nearly so often as his Greenland cousin. 

 Regularly once in each hour and ten minutes is 

 the plan he follows ; and then he remains for 

 several minutes at the surface, going through a 

 series of sixty or seventy mighty puffings and 

 blowings. After which he vanishes for another 

 hour and ten minutes. 



Some pathetic tales have been told of the 

 devotion of a mother-whale to her infant — she 

 usually has but one at a time. 



258 



