SPERM-WHALE. 419 



inert, but is still largely used as a perfume and commands 

 a high price. 



Interesting accounts of the habits and chase of this 

 animal are to be found in Beale's " History of the Sperm- 

 Whale" and Bennett's "Whaling Voyage." It is a 

 gregarious creature, the sexes usually keeping apart in 

 distinct " schools," which roam through the high seas and 

 are rarely found near land. Its food seems to consist 

 principally of cephalopode mollusks, though it also 

 devours fish. When undisturbed it usually swims slowly, 

 just below the surface, but when it moves at a more rapid 

 rate the head is shown above the water at every stroke. 

 When it " blows " the cloud of vapour is said to be visible 

 at a distance of four or five miles. Its pursuit is even 

 more dangerous than that of the Right- Whale ; not only 

 are boats often destroyed, but there is at least one authentic 

 instance of an infuriated Sperm- Whale charging a large 

 vessel and staving in her bows with its head. In fact, as 

 Lowe quaintly says, "all the kind seem to be very mis- 

 chievous. " 



The head of the Sperm-Whale is of most enormous 

 size, forming about half the entire bulk of the animal, 

 the principal amount of this mass consisting of cavities 

 divided by membranous septa and filled with fluid sperm- 

 aceti, lying in the anterior cavity of the skull. The snout 

 is abruptly truncated ; above it, and a little to the left, 

 the single blow-hole is situated on a protuberance. The 

 upper jaw, which overhangs the lower by some four or 

 five feet, is usually without visible teeth in the adult. 

 The lower jaw is extremely narrow, the symphysis 

 between its branches continuing for the greater part of 

 its length, and is furnished with twenty to twenty-five 

 large conical teeth on each side. The body tapers from the 

 head to the tail. The back has no distinct dorsal-fin, but 



