THE GREENLAND WHALE. 



523 



This member is very curious in its structure, for, as may be seen by reference to the 

 rorqual skeleton, the Whales have no hinder limbs that may be modified into fins, as 

 is the case with the seals, and are forced to depend solely on the soft structures for 

 its powers of locomotion. The traces of hinder limbs are to be found in some little 

 bones that lie loosely in the flesh, but they are of no real use, and are only representa- 

 tives of the true limbs. 



The tail of these animals is an enormously powerful organ, set transversely upon the 

 body, and driving the creature forward by its powerful vertical sweeps. With such 

 wonderful strength is the tail endowed, that the largest Whales, measuring some eighty 

 feet in length, are able by its aid to leap clear out of the water, as if they were little 

 fish leaping after flies. This movement is technically termed " breaching," and the 

 sound which is produced by the huge carcase as it falls upon the water is so powerful 

 as to be heard for a distance of several miles. The length of the tail is, in the larger 

 Whales, about five or six feet, but it is often more than twenty feet in breadth. The 

 substance of the tail is remarkably strong, being composed of three layers of tendinous 

 fibres. When taken from the animal it is largely used in the manufacture of glue. 



The skin of the Whales is devoid of hair, and is of a rather peculiar structure, as is 

 needful to enable it to resist the enormous pressure to which it is constantly subjected 

 at the vast depths to which the animal descends. The skin is threefold, consisting 

 first of the scarf-skin, or epidermis ; secondly, of the rete-mucosum, which gives color 

 to the animal ; and thirdly, of the true skin, which is modified in order to meet the 

 needs of the creature which it defends. The blubber, indeed, is nothing more than 

 the true skin, which is composed of a number of interlacing fibres, capable of contain- 

 ing a very great amount of oily matter. This blubber is never less than several inches 

 in thickness, and in many places is nearly two feet deep, and as elastic as caoutchouc, 

 offering an admirable resistance to the force of the waves and the pressure of the 

 water. In a large Whale the blubber will weigh thirty tons. 



None of the Whales are able to turn their heads, for the vertebrae of the neck are 

 fused together into one mass, and compressed into a very small space. 



The GREENLAND WHALE, NORTHERN WHALE, or RIGHT WHALE, as it is indifferently 

 termed, is an inhabitant of the Northern Seas, where it is still found in great abundance, 

 although the constant persecutions 

 to which it has been subjected have 

 considerably thinned its numbers. 



This animal is, when full-grown, 

 about sixty or seventy feet in 

 length, and its girth about thirty 

 or forty feet. Its color is velvety 

 black upon the upper part of the 

 body, the fins and the tail ; gray 

 upon the function of the tail with 

 the body and the base of the fins, 

 and white upon the abdomen and 

 the fore-part of the lower jaw. 

 The velvety aspect of the body is 

 caused by the oil which exudes 

 from the epidermis, and aids in 

 destroying the friction of the water. 

 Its head is remarkably large, be- 

 ing about one-third of the length 

 of the entire bulk. The jaw opens 

 very far back, and in a large Whale is about sixteen feet in length, seven feet wide, 

 and ten or twelve feet in height, affording space, as has quaintly been remarked, for 

 a jolly-boat and her crew to float in. 



The most curious part of the jaw and its structure is the remarkable substance which is 

 popularly known by the name of Whale bone. This substance is represented in its natural 



SKULL OF GREENLAND WHALE. 



(To show the Whalebone.) 



