40 MARINE AND AQUATIC TRESPASSERS. 



It has been thought that the spoutings of the 

 whale are due to food rather than respiration, and are 

 produced by driving the water from the mouth through 

 the nostrils. This, however, is not the case the whale- 

 bone acting as strainers at the sides of the mouth, and 

 not across the nostrils. There is not the least neces- 

 sity for blowing off the water in order to swallow, for 

 the mere act of closing the mouth will drive the water 

 through the plates of baleen, while the mass of little 

 molluscs and Crustacea is left behind. 



It is probable that in this operation the tongue is 

 of great service. I never saw but one whalebone 

 whale, but in that instance I was much struck with the 

 size of the tongue. It seemed to be little more than a 

 large mass of blubber, and, on pressing upon it in the 

 middle, a deep hollow was formed, which slowly filled 

 with oil. 



As is the case with most animal structures which 

 are much exposed to wear and tear, the whalebone has 

 the power of self-renewal from the waste that occurs 

 by the friction of the water that is perpetually rushing 

 between the plates, and, like the teeth of the rodent 

 animals, it is renewed as fast as it is worn away. 



Perhaps the reader may have wondered at the 

 enormous size to which the head attains in the whale 

 tribe, and especially in the two species which have been 

 taken as examples. That an animal of ninety feet in 

 length should have a head measuring thirty feet, does 

 seem almost incredible, but, from the description which 

 has been given of the animal's habits, the reader will 

 see that with a smaller head neither creature could 

 live. The head is, in fact, a sort of trap, in which is 



