4U OF CETACEOUS FISHES. 



inofFenfive, proportioned to its ability to do mifchief. 

 Among land-animals, we have had occaiion to obferve, 

 that fovereignty does not always follow ftrength or 

 llze * : The elephant and camel fly before the tyger and 

 the lion ; while the eagle poffefles a decided fuperiority 

 over the vulture and the oftrich. The fame law obtains 

 among the inhabitants of the ocean ; w^here the whale, 

 if he holds the fceptre, holds it by a precarious tenure, for 

 it may eafily be wrefled from him by his fubjefts. There 

 is a Itrong analogy between his manners and thofe of the 

 elephant ; Both are the ftrongeft and largeft animals in 

 their refpeftive elements ; neither offers injury ; and 

 each is terrible when provoked to refentment. 



But thefe peaceable and innoxious habits do not equal- 

 ly belong to the whole of the cetaceous order : The fin- 

 iiOi differs from the great whale in this refpecl: ; it fub- 

 fifis chiefly upon herring, and is often feen driving vaft 

 ilioals of them before it. Thofe of the cachalot tribe are 

 Hill more voracious, and commit greater depredations ; 

 They are fiirniihed with teeth both in the upper and low- 

 er jaw; their throat, though inferior in capacity to that of 

 the cartilaginous fifhes, is much larger than in the com- 

 mon whale ; and thefe powers of deglutition were pro- 

 bably conferred to gratify the cravings of an appetite 

 proportionably more voracious. It is faid, that the fifh- 

 es of this genus are poiTeired of a courage, that often 

 proves fatal even to the animals of their own order : they 

 purfue and terrify the porpeffes to fuch a degree, that 

 they often drive them alliore f . 



The common whale, whatever honours vulgar preju- 

 dices may have conferred upon it, has np pretenfions to 



the 



* f'/.-'V Buffon, Hift, gen. et part. f r/if Lin.Sjftem. Natiirr. 



