HUMP-BACKED WHALE 



are, of course, provided with lungs. They do not 

 possess gills as in fishes, and, in consequence, have to 

 come to the surface to take in a fresh supply of air. 

 The skin is smooth, without scales, and the body is 

 encased with large quantities of blubber, which is a 

 provision against the heavy water-pressure under which 

 the animal lives. The young are, of course, brought 

 forth alive, and are suckled by teats in the same way as 

 those of other mammals. 



The so-called whalebone of these toothless Cetaceans 

 is situate in the top jaw, and there are some six hundred 

 elastic plates in all. These serve the purpose of an 

 enormous fishing net and sieve, as the toothless Whales 

 feed upon countless myriads of small organisms, and 

 are incapable of swallowing food of large size. Minute 

 crustaceans, called pteropods, are mostly taken, and 

 when a mouthful of this small food is secured, the water 

 is strained out between the plates of baleen, leaving the 

 food behind, and any matter secured which is not of 

 use is left stranded upon the plates of baleen, or " whale- 

 bone," and is eventually rejected by expulsion. 



The toothed Whales seek larger prey, being voracious 

 feeders, and swallowing fish whole. 



Common Rorqual. — This species also feeds upon 



small crustaceans, but there are less whalebone plates, 



and the animal is not so heavily supplied with blubber 



as in the foregoing. It is, nevertheless, an active creature 



when seen in its native element, and is enormously 



powerful. A specimen which became stranded near 



IIT 



