MOUTH OF THE WHALE. 



137 



and appearance, as they hang from the roof of 

 the palate, are shown in Fig. 272, which repre- 

 sents only six of these plates.* They are con- 

 nected with the bone by means of a white liga- 

 mentous substance, to which they are imme- 

 diately attached, and from which they appear to 

 grow : at their inner margins, 

 the fibres, of which their tex- 

 ture is throughout composed, 

 cease to adhere together ; but, 

 being loose and detached, 

 form a kind of fringe, calcu- 

 lated to intercept, as in a sieve, 

 all solid or even gelatinous 

 substances that may have been 

 admitted into the cavity of the 

 mouth, which is exceedingly 

 capacious; for as the plates 

 of whalebone grow only from 

 the margins of the upper jaw, 

 they leave a large space with- 

 in, which, though narrow an- 

 teriorly, is wider as it extends 

 backwards, and is capable of 

 holding a large quantity of water. Thus the 

 whale is enabled to collect a whole shoal of mol- 



* In the Piked Whale the plates of whalebone are placed 

 very near together, not being a quarter of an inch asunder; and 

 there are above three hundred plates in the outer rows on each 

 side of the mouth. 



