^4 OF CETAC20U3 FISHES. 



diminlflied both the number and the fiz.e of the cetaceous 

 tribes : Man had no fooner completed his fovereignty 

 over the ocean by the invention of the compafs, than 

 thefe animals were fo much thinned by continual cap- 

 ture or deftrudlion, that they have never had time to ar- 

 rive at that enormous bulk which the peaceable poiTcf- 

 lion of the fea, in former ages, conferred *. 



The external conformation of the filhes of this genus, 

 no lefs than their fize, ferves to characlerife them 

 among the other inhabitants of the deep. They are co- 

 vered with a dark-coloured cinereous flvin : they are 

 moved, commonly againft the Avind, and xvlth vaft rapi- 

 dity, by means of a horizontal tail, aided by three fins ; 

 two perioral, and one back fin ; but in fome fpecies, the 

 laft is wanting. The head is commonly extremely large, 

 in proportion to the fize of the body, being in fome ec^ual 

 to a third of the fize of the fifli. The animal is di- ^ 

 reeled to its prey by two fmall eyes, furnlfned with eye- 

 lids, and not fuperior in fize to thofe of an ox. As the 

 cetaceous tribes all breathe by means of lungs, they have 

 no branchiae nor external apparatus for that purpofe f . 

 In the middle of the head, there is one, fometimes two 

 orifices, through which they fpout water to a vafl 

 height, and with a great nolfe. With thefe orifices raif- 

 ed above the furface, the whales fleep and breathe, gen- 

 tly moving their fins, to keep them poifed upon the fum- 

 mit of the xvater X- When immerfed below the furface, 

 or while devouring their food, water unavoidably rufhes 

 into the throat and lungs, and is, in this manner, ejecled 

 every time they rife for a fupply of air. If the animal 

 be wounded, it fpouts the air and water with a violence 



fufficient 



* FUe Eritidi Zonlorry, claf= iv, gen. I. f Ariftot. Hill. Animal. 

 ■.;. ^^'illoiigh. lib. ii. cap. I. 



