THE BLACK-FISH. 



535 



dorsal fin is long, and slightly sickle-shaped. The head is remarkably large, and prob- 

 ably exceeds in length the fourth of the entire bulk. 



This species is of considerable dimensions when adult, as it is known to measure 

 from fifty to sixty feet in length. In the lower jaw is a bountiful supply of teeth, white, 

 powerful, and conical. These teeth are very variable in number, in different species, 

 varying altogether from twenty-two to forty-four. An equal number of cartilaginous 

 sockets are placed in the upper jaw, into which the conical teeth are received when 

 the mouth is closed. In the accompanying illustration of this species, the sockets of 

 the upper jaw are engraved as if they were projecting teeth, instead of hollow cavities. 

 The teeth that are placed in the middle of the jaw are larger and heavier than those of 

 the front or base. Some of these teeth will exceed nine inches in length, and weigh 

 more than eighteen ounces when perfectly dried. 



The root of each tooth is hollow in the centre to the depth of several inches, and is 

 so deeply buried in the jaw, that the projecting portion of the largest tooth rarely ex- 

 ceeds three inches. The teeth range from seven to nine inches in length. These 



BLACK-FISH. Pbyseter Turslo. 



teeth are very white and polished, are conical in their shape, tolerably sharp while the 

 animal is young, but become blunt as the creature increases in years and dimensions. 



The dimensions of one of these animals have been very accurately given by Sibbald. 



In total length it measured between fifty-two and fifty-three feet, its girth at the 

 largest part of the body was rather more than thirty-two feet, and as it lay on the 

 ground the height of its back was twelve feet. The lower jaw was ten feet in length, 

 and was furnished with forty-two teeth, twenty-one on each side. Each tooth was 

 slightly sickle-shaped, and curved towards the throat. From the tip of the snout to 

 the eyes was a distance of twelve feet, and the upper part of the snout projected nearly 

 five feet beyond the tip of the lower jaw. The eyes were remarkably small, about the 

 size of those of the common haddock. As may be supposed from the popular name 

 of this animal, the color of its skin is almost uniformly black. The throat is larger, 

 in proportion, than that of other Whales. One of these animals was thrown ashore at 

 Nice, in the month of November, 1736. 



