24 



CETACEANS. 



The Sperm-Whale. 



Genus Pkys< U r. 



The sperm-whale, or, as it is frequently called from its French title, cachalot 

 (Physeter macrocepkalua), is one of the largest of the Cetaceans, fully rivalling in 

 size the Greenland whale. As with many other species, its dimensions have, how- 

 ever, been consideral >ly exaggerated ; although, on the other hand, it is i [uite probable 

 that when the species was more abundant than at present, some individuals attained 

 a size which is now never reached. Be this as it may, the male sperm-whale is 

 definitely known to attain a length of from 55 to 60 feet: but females are said not 

 to reach much more than half these dimensions, while their form is proportionately 

 more slender. The essential generic characteristics of the sperm-whale are to be 

 found in the great proportionate size of the head, which ecpials about one-fourth of 



SKELETON OF srERM-WHALE. 



the total length of the animal, and in the number of the teeth being from twenty to 

 twenty-five on each side of the lower jaw. 



In appearance the sperm-whale is ungainly and ugly in the 

 extreme, this being chiefly due to the great height and abrupt trunca- 

 tion of the enori"ous muzzle, upon the summit of which is situated the S-shaped 

 aperture of the nostrils, somewhat to the left of the middle line. The mouth, which 

 is of great length and capacity, opens below, and at some distance behind the 

 extremity of the muzzle. On the upper surface of the skull, as seen in our figure 

 of the skeleton, is a huge cavity, bounded behind by a tall vertical wall of bone ; 

 this cavity being filled in the living animal with the substance known as spermaceti, 

 of which more anon. In front of this hollow protrudes the long rostrum of the 

 upper jaw; the gum of which contains rudimentary teeth. The lower jaw is very 

 long and slender ; its two branches being united in the middle line for about half 

 their total length. The teeth are implanted in the lower jaw in a long groove, 

 partially divided into sockets by incomplete bony partitions. These teeth are of 

 large size, and, when unworn, are pointed and recurved at their tips. They are 

 composed solely of ivory, and the pulp-cavity at their base remains open for a long 

 period, although generally more or less completely closed in adult life, when the 

 whole base of the tooth becomes much flattened from side to side. The tongue and 

 interior of the mouth are of a glistening white colour: and the diameter of the 

 throat is very large. The eye is placed somewhat above the angle of the mouth, 

 and a short distance behind it is the minute aperture of the ear, which is said not 

 to exceed a quarter of an inch in diameter. 



