The Sperm Whale and its Food 277 



remained to be ascertained, how those beaks became so constantly mixed 

 with ambergrise? In prosecuting this enquiry, I had the satisfaction to 

 learn from the same persons who gave me the information above-mentioned, 

 that the Sepia octopodia, or cuttle fish, is the constant and natural food 

 of the spermaceti-whale, or Physeter macrocephalus. Of this they are so 

 well persuaded, that whenever they discover any recent relics of it swimming 

 on the sea, they conclude that a whale of this kind is, or has been, in that 

 part. Another circumstance which corroborates this fact is, that the 

 spermaceti-whale on being hooked generally vomits up some remains of 



pia. 



It will not be improper here to remark, to what an enormous size this 

 species of Sepia grows in the ocean. One of the gentlemen who was so kind 

 as to communicate to me his observations on this subject, about ten years 

 ago hooked a spermaceti-whale that had in its mouth a large substance 

 with which he was unacquainted, but which proved to be a dentaculum of 



'pia octopodia, nearly 27 feet long: this dentaculum however did not 

 seem to be entire, one end of it appearing in some measure corroded by 

 digestion, so that in its natural state it may have been a great deal longer. 

 With regard to its being a dentaculum of the cuttle fish, the fishermen could 

 not have been mistaken, as they themselves .often feed upon the smaller 

 sort of the same Sepia. When we consider the enormous bulk of the denta- 

 culum of the Sepia here spoken of, we shall cease to wonder at the common 



- of the fishermen, that the cuttle-fish is the largest fish of the ocean. 



