CLASS-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. 61 



§237. The Black Whale^ (Balaena Mysticetus,) the 

 largest animal on our globe, is from sixty to seventy feet 

 long, about thirty feet high, weighs 100,000 pounds, is of 

 a velvet-black color on the back, and partly white below. 

 It is found in the frozen seas of Greenland and Davis' 

 Strait ; in the bays of Baffin and Hudson ; in the sea to 

 the northward of Behring's Strait, and along some parts 

 of the northern shores of Asia and America. 



§238. No warm-blooded animal would be able to 

 endure the extreme cold of those northern regions, if 

 Providence had not provided their internal organization 

 with a high degree of heat. The temperature of the 

 blood of a Black Whale one hour after death was found 

 to be 97o Fahr. 



§ 239. The mouth of the Black Whale, when open, 

 forms a cavity about eight feet wide, twelve feet high, and 

 sixteen feet long. 



§ 240. The two fins, placed about two feet behind the 

 angle of the mouth, are from seven to nine feet in length, 

 and four or five in breadth. 



\ 241. The tail has a length of only five or six feet, but 

 its width is from twenty to twenty-six feet, and its surface 

 about a hundred square feet : its position is horizontal. 



\ 242. The eyes, which are on the side of the head, are 

 remarkably small, in proportion to the size of the animal's 

 body, being not much larger than those of an ox. The 

 two blow-holes, called spiracles, consisting of two longi- 

 tudinal apertures, are the proper nostrils, and are situated 

 on the most elevated part of the head : through these the 

 water is spouted as from a fountain. 



\ 243. The whalebones are contained in the mouth, in 

 place of teeth, and suspended in two extensive rows from 

 the sides of the crown-bone, which gives an arched form 

 to the roof of the mouth. Each series consists of up- 

 wards of 300 laminae. Fifteen feet is the greatest length 

 of the whalebone, and its greatest breadth about one foot. 

 A large Whale sometimes affords 1,500 pounds of whale- 

 bone, of which the largest weighs seven pounds. 



§ 244. The blubber, or fat, which encompasses the whole 

 body of the Whale, lies beneath the skin, is yellowish- 

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