THE GREENLAND WHALE. 81 



centre ; a second on the outside ; and a third being 

 the intermediate substance. These appear to have 

 three stages of duration ; for that which forms on 

 the cone, I believe, makes the hair, and that on the 

 outside makes principally the plate of whalebone ; 

 this, when a certain length, breaks off, leaving the 

 hair projecting, becoming at the termination very 

 brittle ; and the third or intermediate substance, by 

 the time it rises as high as the edge of the jaw, de- 

 cays and softens away like the old cuticle of the sole 

 of the foot/' 



The tongue is incapable of protrusion, being fixed 

 from the root to the tip ; a slight beard, consisting 

 of a few short scattered hairs, surmount the anterior 

 extremity of both jaws. The throat is remarkably 

 strait; Sir Charles Giesecki states it does not ex- 

 ceed an inch and a half in width. 



The colour of the mysticetus is velvet-black, grey, 

 and white, with a tinge of yellow. The back, most 

 of the upper jaw, and part of the lower, together 

 with the fins and tail, are black. The lips, the 

 fore part of the lower jaw, sometimes a little of the 

 upper, and a portion of the abdomen are white ; 

 and the eyelids, the junction of the tail with the 

 W)dy, a portion of the axilla of the fins, &c. are 

 rey. The older the animals the more they contain 

 of white and grey, and some are all over pie-bald. 



The surface of the body is somewhat furrowed ; 

 the scarf-skin is not thicker than parchment; the 

 rete-mucosum in adults is about three-fourths of un 

 inch in thickness, over most parts of the body ; in 



