THE OPEN SEA 79 



"right" whale, right from the whaler's point of 

 view. 



The whale is fish-like in shape ; it has fore- 

 fins like a fish, and it swims by means of its 

 powerful fish-like tail. Yet, though we talk of 

 whale " fishery," we all know that a whale is 

 not a fish but a mammal, that is, a warm- 

 blooded animal that breathes by lungs, and 

 gives suck to its young. Naturalists have been 

 able to show, from a study of the whale's own 

 body and the bodies of its fossil relatives, that 

 the ancestors of the whale were land mammals, 

 and that, in taking to the sea, they lost many 

 of the old characters of their race and acquired 

 others more suited to their new mode of life. 



The body is now fish-like because that is 

 the shape most suitable for cleaving the water ; 

 the fore-limbs are flippers or paddles, yet within 

 them " the whole inherited but greatly shortened 

 skeleton of the mammalian forearm lies con- 

 cealed." The hind-limbs were no longer of 

 use, so they disappeared, but traces of their 

 bones can still be found hidden beneath the 

 blubber ; the skin has lost its hair, except for 

 a few very sensitive vibrissae or whiskers about 

 the mouth, but indications of hair can be seen 

 in the developing young ; and under the skin 



