2 CETACEANS. 



external .surroundings, and have no sort of connection with their affinities. The 

 fish-like resemblances of the Cetaceans are. moreover, not so close as they may at 

 first sight appear; since the tail-fin, instead of being vertical, is horizontal, while 

 the structure of the skeleton of the fore-limb is totally different from that of any 

 fish. The general fish-like form of the body is, however, that best adapted for 

 progression through the water, which affords sufficient reason for its having been 

 acquired in the present group of animals ; and we may likewise mention that 

 Cetaceans generally resemble fish in having the upper-part of the body coloured 

 dark, while the under-parts are light, such a coloration rendering the animals in 

 which it occurs not easily seen, either from above or below, when in their native 

 element. 

 No connection That whales are not even directly descended from fishes is 



with Fishes, evident from the fact of their breathing atmospheric air, by means 

 of lungs, for if they had so originated it would be quite clear that they would have 



SKELETON' OF GREENLAND WHALE. 



retained fish-like gills, and thus have avoided the necessity of coming periodically 

 to the surface for the purpose of breathing. It is probably for this reason that 

 Cetaceans have their tails with the expansion placed in a horizontal instead of a 

 vertical plane, since the strokes of such a horizontally-expanded organ are the best 

 calculated to bring an animal rapidly to the surface. 



The additional circumstance that Cetaceans retain traces of the 

 hairy covering, which is so characteristic of mammals in general, 

 affords evidence that they derive their origin from terrestrial mammals ; and, 

 taken together with the absence of hind-limbs, is amply sufficient to disprove 

 any notion that they themselves are in any sort of way connected with the 

 ancestral stock from which the other members of the class have originated. 

 Cetaceans may, therefore, be regarded as some of the most specialised of all 

 mammals. With regard to the terrestrial mammals to which these animals are 

 most closely related, there is still great uncertainty ami some difference of opinion 

 among zoologists. Sir W. H. Flower is inclined to consider that they show more 

 resemblances to Ungulates, and especially the Even-toed group ; but the teeth of the 

 earliest forms are quite unlike those of any Ungulates, and approximate much more 

 closely to those of Carnivores. It may. therefore, be suggested that the alliance 

 between Cetaceans and Carnivores may prove to be closer than is often considered 



