10 CATECHISM OF 



kinds of worms, found in vast abundance on the 

 surface of the sea about Spitsbergen. 



Q. Is not this genus capable of strong affection? 



A. Yes ; its affection for its mate exceeds almost 

 every thing of the kind related of irrational crea- 

 tures, and its fond attachment to its young can be 

 extinguished only by death. When pursued, it 

 clasps its cub between its fins, and thus endea- 

 vours to shield it from danger *. 



Q. Is the whale in any way useful to man ? 



A. Yes ; besides the substance already men- 

 tioned, called whalebone, it yields an amazing 



* The following anecdotes may serve to illustrate these 

 assertions. Two whales, a male and a female, being in 

 company, the former was harpooned by a fisherman, and, 

 after a long and terrible resistance, in which, by a stroke of 

 its tail, it struck down a boat with three men in it, sunk 

 under the number of its wounds; its faithful companion 

 lent it every assistance, and at length, disdaining to survive 

 its loss, with great bellowing, stretched itself on the dead 

 fish and shared its fate. A whale and her cub had got into 

 an arm of the sea at the Bermudas, or Somer's Islands, and, 

 by the ebbing of the tide, were unable to retreat; the people 

 from the shore soon surrounded them with boats, and 

 wounded them so severely that the sea was discoloured 

 with their gore. At length the mother forced a passage 

 over the shallow, and might have escaped ; but, finding that 

 her young one could not follow her, she returned to share 

 its fate ; happily the rising of the tide relieved them from 

 their prison, though it is probable that they afterwards 

 perished from their wounds. 



