ORDER CETACEA. 433 



mode was necessary to enable them to get rid of it. 

 The water passes into the nostrils by means of 

 a peculiar disposition of the palate, and is accumu- 

 lated in a sac placed at the external orifice of the 

 cavity of the nose, from which it is expelled with 

 violence, by the compression of powerful muscles, 

 through a very narrow aperture situated at the top 

 of the head. Thus it is that the whales produce 

 those water-spouts observed by navigators at such 

 a considerable distance. Their nostrils, thus con- 

 tinually exposed to the influx of salt water, cannot 

 be lined with a membrane of sufficient delicacy to 

 enable them to detect odours with any acuteness. 

 The olfactory nerve is excessively small, and if they 

 do enjoy the sense of smelling it must be in a very 

 faint degree. The larynx, of a pyramidal form, pe- 

 netrates to the back part of the nostrils, to receive 

 the air and conduct it to the lungs, without the 

 animal being necessitated to put its head and throat 

 out of the water. There are no projecting laminae 

 in the glottis, and the voice is reduced to simple 

 lowing. They have no vestige of hairs, but the 

 whole body is covered with a glossy skin, under 

 which is a coat of thick fat, from which the oil 

 is produced that renders these animals an object of 

 such attention. 



The mammse are situated near the anus, and the 

 fins are incapable of grasping anything. 



The stomach has five and sometimes even as 

 many as seven distinct pouches. Instead of a 

 single spleen, they have many small and globulous. 



