xiv THE ARCTIC RIGHT WHALE 195 



The Arctic right whale (Fig. 9), when full grown, attains 

 the length of from 45 to 50 feet, a size which, as in the case 

 of the sperm whale, has generally been greatly exaggerated in 

 old descriptions. As is apparently the case in all whalebone 

 whales, but contrary to what occurs in the sperm whale, the 

 female is rather larger than the male. Its external form is 

 shown in Fig. 9, from a careful drawing by Mr. Eobert Gray. 

 In this species all the peculiarities which distinguish the head 

 and mouth of the whales from those of other mammals have 

 attained their greatest development. The head is of enormous 

 size, exceeding one-third of the whole length of the creature. 

 The cavity of the mouth is fully as large as that of the body, 

 chest and abdomen together. The upper jaw is very narrow 



FIG. 9. 



but greatly arched from before backwards, to increase the 

 height of the cavity and allow for the great length of the 

 baleen or " whalebone " blades. The enormous rami of the 

 lower jaw are widely separated behind, and have a still farther 

 outward sweep before they meet in front, giving the floor of 

 the mouth the shape of an immense spoon. The baleen blades 

 attain the number of 380 or more on each side, and those in 

 the middle of the series have a length of 10 or sometimes 12 

 feet. They are black in colour, fine, and highly elastic in 

 texture, and fray out at the inner edge and ends into long, 

 delicate, soft, almost silky, but very tough hairs. The 

 remarkable development of the mouth, and of the structures in 

 connection with it, which distinguishes the right whale among 

 its allies is entirely in relation to the nature of its food. It 

 is by this apparatus that it is enabled to avail itself of the 



