ORDER CETACEA. 469 



widest part of the body, is yet by far the most agile, the 

 most audacious, and most formidable of his congeners. 

 The pectoral fins are extremely short, and the skin, which is 

 very soft to the touch and of a blackish gray, covers a coat 

 of fat, from which an oil is derived less rank and more 

 clear than that of the Common Whale. This Cachalot also 

 furnishes the spermaceti and ambergris. 



Another species is the Cachalot Svinewal. (Physeter 

 Catodon, Linn.) This cetaceous animal is easily recognised 

 by its rounded head, small aperture of the mouth, and by 

 having the lower jaw sensibly narrower than the upper. 

 This alone is furnished with teeth on both sides of no 

 great length, which correspond to an equal number of 

 alveoli in the upper ; the orifice of the spiracles at the 

 upper end of the muzzle seems to be the same as that of 

 the nostrils ; there is a callous eminence on the back ; the 

 length of the body is from eighteen to twenty-two feet. 



Another species upon which we shall not dwell, as it is 

 doubtful, is called the Whitish Cachalot. In Gmelin's 

 edition of Linnaeus it is Var. B. of Catodon Macrocephalus. 

 The Baron declares it to be the Beluga. 



Count Lacepede makes a separate family of the Physa- 

 lus, of which he reckons but one species, the Cylindrical 

 Cachalot of Bonnaterre. The general characteristics are, 

 head equal to one-third or one-half of the total length of the 

 animal ; upper jaw wide, elevated, destitute of teeth, or 

 with very short ones completely concealed by the gum ; 

 lower jaw narrow, armed with gross conical teeth ; orifice 

 of the spiracles united, and situated on the muzzle at a 

 small distance from its extremity. No dorsal fin. 



Of the Physeters, Lacepede reckons three species. 

 Mycrops, Orthodon, and Mular or Tursio. The general 

 characters are the same as Physalus, with the exception 

 of a dorsal fin, and the orifice of the spiracles being situated 

 near the termination of the upper part of the muzzle. 



