488 



CETACEA. 



The lower jaw, totally destitute of teeth, lodges a fleshy tongue 

 of stupendous bulk, which, when the mouth is closed, compresses 

 all the interior of the upper jaw and the plates of whalebone 

 suspended from its roof. This structure of the mouth does not allow 

 the Whales to live upon animals so large as their size would lead us 

 to suppose. They subsist principally on small fish, but still more on 

 worms, molluscs, and zoophytes, which become entangled in the 



FlG. 415. WHALEBONE WHALE. 



fringes of their whalebone. The lower jaw is very deep, shaped 

 somewhat like a vast spoon. When the Whale feeds it swims 

 rapidly just under or at the surface, with its mouth wide open. The 

 water, with all its contents, rushes into the immense cavity and filters 

 out at the sides between the plates of the whalebone, which are so 

 close, and so finely fringed, that every particle of solid matter is re- 

 t'ained. 



HERBIVOROUS CETACEA. 



The Herbivorous Cetacea are provided with teeth 

 having flat crowns, a character that indicates their 

 mode of subsistence ; accordingly, they emerge from 

 the water to seek their pasture on the shore. They 

 have two mammae on the breast, and hairs like 

 mustachios ; two circumstances which, when they 

 raise the body out of the water, give them some 

 resemblance to men and women, and have probably 

 given rise to the ancient fables about Tritons and 



