CETACEA. 



223 



TROOP OP DOLPHINS (DelpUnus Delpliis] ; COW-WHALE (Manatus 

 Dugong) in the distance. 



ORDER IX. CETACEA.* 



LEAVING entirely the solid earth, we have now to 

 examine animals whose whole life is passed in the 

 sea, never (or very rarely) coming on shore ; a mode 

 of life for which their form and their whole anato- 

 mical structure is admirably adapted. Their ex- 

 ternal appearance is that of a fish, from which cir- 

 cumstance, joined with their aquatic habits, the 

 vulgar in all ages, and sometimes even the votaries 

 of science, have classed them with those inferior ani- 

 mals. They are, however, notwithstanding their un- 



j, ketos, a whale. 



