232 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



food of this animal consists wholly of the soft jelly- 

 like masses (Meduste) which float in the ocean, the 

 little pellucid shrimps, &c., which so abound " as 

 often to colour the surface of the sea," or other 

 creatures of very small size, the gullet being so 

 contracted as not to receive the human hand. To 

 seize or to masticate such prey as this, teeth would 

 of course be utterly useless : and a provision is 

 substituted which effectually meets the requirement. 

 The slender and weak, but long and curved lower 

 jaws, form the frame-work of " an enormous spoon," 

 which shovelling up whole hosts of prey, water and 

 all, the mouth is closed ; the water is now forcibly 

 squeezed out through the interstices of the whale- 

 bone plates, which are close enough to retain the 

 food, after all the water is ejected. 



The pursuit of the Greenland Whale (B. Mysti- 

 cetus) forms no inconsiderable source of national 

 wealth, and is important as a nursery for adven- 

 turous and hardy British seamen. It was formerly 

 prosecuted on the East shores of Greenland ; but 

 of late years, Davis' Straits, and the interior of 

 Baffin's Bay, have become the principal scenes of 

 the enterprise. Our own ports furnish the majority 

 of the ships engaged ; chiefly those of North Britain, 

 among which Hull, Peterhead, Dundee and Aber- 

 deen, stand prominent. The ships usually leave 

 the Shetland Isles in April, and proceed to their 

 locality, which they reach in May or June. As soon 

 as a " fish " is descried, the boats are despatched in 

 pursuit; when approached, he is struck with a har- 



