266 ZOOLOGY. 



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plates, the fibres acting as a strainer. Three thousand five 

 hundred pounds of whalebone have been obtained from a 

 single bow-head or Greenland whale (Balcena mysticetus). 

 The caclielot or sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus, 

 Fig. 303) has an enormous head, and is without the power 

 of smell. In the upper jaw are cavities filled with a fatty 

 fluid called spermaceti, used in the manufacture of candles, 

 ointments, and cosmetics, such as cold cream. A large 

 sperm-whale will yield 2500 kilograms of this substance. 

 Another valuable substance is ambergris, a morbid product, 

 the result of injury to the intestines by the beaks of cuttle- 

 fishes, upon which animals the toothed whales largely prey. 

 It is a kind of bezoar or gall-stone, fatty, aromatic, burn- 

 ing with a clear flame. It is composed of benzoic acid, 



Fig. 304.— The Pigmy Whale (Kogia Floweri). 



united with chlorine, of a balsamic substance, and ambrain. 

 It is used in making perfumes. 



But the chief use of whales is the oil extracted from the 

 fat enveloping the body, called blubber by whalers. The 

 most valuable of the whales is the Greenland whale, as it 

 contains the most oil, individuals having been known to 

 yield nearly three hundred barrels. 



The whale fishery first sprang up in the twelfth century 

 in the Bay of Biscay. In the New England colonies whales 

 were pursued in boats from the shore. In 1854 the fishery 

 culminated; since then it has decreased. It is principally 

 carried on by Americans, New Bedford being now the lead- 

 ing port from which whalers are sent out to the Arctic le- 

 gions and Behring's Straits, one hundred and ten vessels 

 having been sent out in 1876 from this port, 



