GET ACE A. 507 



plates. When, by a repetition of this process, the Whale has 

 accumulated a sufficient quantity of food within the central 

 cavity of the mouth, it is enabled to swallow it, without taking 

 the water at the same time. 



Fig. 194. Diagram of the Baleen-plates of a Whale, a. a Section of the palatal sur- 

 face of the upper jaw, showing the strong median ridge or keel ; b b Baleen-plates, 

 sunk at their bases in the palate ; ff Fibrous margin of Baleen-plates. 



We have now to speak of a phenomenon which has given 

 rise to a considerable amount of controversy, namely, what is 

 known as the " blowing " or " spouting " of the whale. In all 

 the Cetaceans the nose opens by a single or double aperture 

 (the latter in the Balcznida) upon the top of the head, and these 

 external apertures or nostrils are known as the " blow-holes " 

 or " spiracles." The act known to the whalers as " blowing " 

 consists in the expulsion from the blow-holes of a jet of what 

 is apparently water, or at any rate looks like it. The act is 

 performed by the whale upon rising to the surface, and it is 

 usually by this that the whereabouts of the animal is discovered. 

 The old view as to what takes place in the act of blowing is, 

 that the whale is really occupied in getting rid of the surplus 

 water which it has taken in at the mouth and strained through 

 the baleen-plates. The modern, and doubtless correct, view, 

 however, is that the water which has been strained through the 



