THE WHALEBONE WHALES. 



563 



pose the extremity of the plate. Curved layers of 

 horn coalesce with the individual plates at the roots, 

 connecting them with the skin of the roof of the 

 mouth, from which they derive their nourishment. 

 This skin, which is four-fifths of an inch thick, is 

 abundantly supplied with blood-vessels. The total 

 number of plates is from two hundred and fifty to 

 four hundred, the longest being found in the middle 

 of the jaw, while the shortest are at the ends and at 

 the curve, as they grow rather uniformly shorter 

 from the middle to the two sides. When the Whale- 

 bone Whale closes its mouth the lower jaw adjusts 

 itself to the entire upper jaw, the plates touch the 

 tongue around the edges, thus entirely closing the 

 cavity from the outside and, like a sieve, holding 

 fast the smallest and most slippery prey beyond the 

 possibility of escaping. 



phants or from one hundred and fifty to one hundred 

 and seventy Oxen. Over seven thousand five hun- 

 dred gallons of oil have sometimes been rendered 

 from the blubber of such a giant. 



In spite of a Whale's enormous bulk it moves 

 with great speed and agility in the water, swimming 

 straight ahead, but in constant vertical curves, com- 

 ing up to the surface or appearing above it and 

 then again plunging to the depths beneath. 



Food of the The food of this largest animal 

 Whalebone on earth consists of small, insignifi- 

 Whale. can t mollusks, crustaceans, cephalo- 



pods, sea-nettles and worms, many species of which 

 are barely visible to the eye. But it swallows 

 millions of these creatures at once. With its huge, 

 widely-gaping mouth open the Whale traverses the 

 ocean, fills the great cavity with water, together 



RAZORBACK WHALE. One of the longest species of the Whales is the Razorback, which maKes its home in the north Atlantic and 



Arctic Oceans. It attains a length of over eighty feet, and besides being a powerful, is also an agile animal, moving through the water with great 

 rapidity and devouring great numbers of Haddocks, Herrings and other fish. (Physalus antiquorum.) 



Physical Charac- The Whalebone Whales are enor- 

 teristics of Whale- mous creatures with huge heads, a 

 bone Whales. w jd e g ape f the mouth, double 

 nostrils and blowing-holes, valved apertures for the 

 ears which the animal can close at will, and very 

 small eyes. The spinal column consists of seven 

 cervical, fourteen or fifteen dorsal, eleven to fifteen 

 lumbar and twenty-one or more caudal vertebras. 

 The tongue is grown fast in the mouth, and is im- 

 mobile, the gullet is narrow, and the stomach has 

 three compartments. 



Adult Whalebone Whales attain a length of from 

 sixty to one hundred feet and a weight of from forty 

 thousand to three hundred thousand pounds. They 

 are therefore the largest animals now found on the 

 globe. The bulk of body of a large Whale corre- 

 sponds to that of about thirty or thirty-five Ele- 



with the little animals that exist in it, and when the 

 tongue, which is not devoid of sensibility, feels their 

 presence, the giant closes the trap. All the fibers 

 of the baleen are directed perpendicularly down- 

 ward, thus forming a sieve through which the water 

 can escape, but which retains all the small creatures. 

 A single muscular action of the clumsy and scarcely 

 mobile tongue drives the jelly-like mass through the 

 gullet into the stomach. 



Noteworthy Traits In the Whalebone Whales the senses 

 of Whalebone of sight, hearing and touch are 

 Whales. those best developed. Their intel- 



lectual faculties seem to be weaker than those of 

 the Toothed Whales. All Whalebone Whales are 

 fearful, shy and fleet, and therefore probably live in 

 peace among themselves and with most other 

 aquatic mammals. When they are attacked their 



