\ ERTEBRATA. 



I, upper ja* into the cavity of the mouth below, which, to make place for 



cth. When the mouth is .shut these plates are inclosed on the outside 



ind the tongue lies between the two rows. These plates, which are fastened 



of the mouth, are hardly more than one-fourth of an inch apart, and 



ed. This curious device is admirably Buited to the wants of the ani- 



a and mollusca, and is said never to take in any thing larg< r 



ta throat is bo small thai it cannol swallow larger objects. It swims along 



here myriads of these minute animals arc moving and ingulfs a whole shoal of them 



rained off, as by a sieve, through the spaces between the baleen, and is 



■ the mouth, or through the blow-holes, bul all the animals, even the 



11 in the mouth. Thus, by this capacious net, the whale is enabled to make a meal 



:1k, though his prey consists of creatures often not larger than insects! 

 ily there arc several genera. The firsl is the BAL/ENA: Balcena. This includes 

 ies, the most important of which is the Right Whale or Greenland Whale, B. 



Linnaeus. This has long been an object of pursuit by the whalers, 



- Prom Europe, mostly English, with many from America, are annually 



th - as for ; '- capture. The largest are near seventy feet long. The tail 



e whale measures about twenty or twenty-five feet in breadth and five or six feet in 



of this j'o\ rful instrument it can dash off with immense velocity when 



irmed, and sometimes with a single Mow from it, completely shatters the boat of 



Its pace at ordinary times is about four miles an hour, and it appears rarely to swim 



pth in the water. At times, for amusement, these enormous creatures will spring 



ie water, ami another of their diversions counts in immersing the whole body 



•ularly and flapping their immense tails on the surface of the water, so as to produce a 



he h( ard at a distance of two or three miles. They hear acutely any noise under 



disreg ird Bounds made in the air. They seldom remain on the surface to blow 



than two mi nut s, during which period they blow eight or ten times; they then dive for ten 



•i minute-, when they rise again. 



enland Whale i- found in most parts of the .Arctic seas, but its exact limits are not 



robably often been confounded with the other species of Balcena. It is gener- 



th alone or in pairs, excepting when many individuals are attracted to some abundant 



>und or to a desired locality, such as the vicinity of icebeigs. The fishery is principally 



l Bay, and by the English, who are calculated to have a capital of at least a 



; i mbarked in it. The ships reach their stations about the end of April, and im- 



•i looking out tor whale-. As soon as one of these creatures is perceived from the 



of which each ship carries six or seven, are lowered and manned for the pur- 



thera arrives sufficiently close to the enormous animal, the harpooner, who 



the boat, pi I'm-.- his weapon into its body, and the rowers immediately 



• ■ harm's way. The whale Buddenly dives down with such velocity that, when he has 



pendicular direction, he ha- been known to fracture the bones of his head against the 



pth of eight hundred yards; hut more commonly he makes off for the shelter of 



with him the line to which the harpoon is fastened, and this passes so 



the boat that it is necessary to keep it constantly wet to prevent its 



I he lines are usually aboul four thousand feet in length, hut the whale often takes 



r times this length of line. The wounded whale usually remains under water for 



half an hour, but sometimes much longer, and an instance is recorded in which the crea- 



and a half before coming up to breathe. On hi- reappearance he is again at- 



,i:,r I "- and -pears, by which he i- soon dispatched, the destruction of one of these 



rarely taking more than an hour. The body is then towel to the ship's 



■'/.'/, or cutting off the blubber and remoi ing the baleen, is performed, 



i completed, the .-area- i- left to the tender mercies of the white bears, water- 



t 1 "' MJi-l • the whale to a thickness of from eight or ten to* twenty 



