82 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



collected in herds like cattle. Mild and inoffensive in dis- 

 position, the Rhytlna soon fell before eager crews, who ruth- 

 lessly slaughtered them for their savoury flesh. The smaller 

 Dugongs and Manatees are the only Sirenians now living. 



Besides mere bulk, however, the Cetaceans have enormous 

 strength and activity, making their pursuit occasionally both 

 difficult and dangerous. The comparatively large and much 

 convoluted brain, even in the smaller Cetaceans, shows that 

 intelligence is not less than is usually supposed ; indeed, 

 those who have long come in contact with the living forms in 

 our own seas can sufficiently vouch for this. Again, the large 

 amount of oil obtained from the subcutaneous fat or " blubber," 

 and the value of the whalebone of the Eight Whale (a single 

 long blade of which may bring from £12 to £14), all combine 

 to render the group as valuable to the public as interesting to 

 the scientific inquirer. 



Some of the Cetaceans, just as the Zeuglodonts and their 

 allies did in the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, range over a 

 very wide area — species which are indistinguishable from each 

 other being found in the North Atlantic, as well as on the coast 

 of New Zealand and the neighbouring Pacific. Others have a 

 more restricted area, though in regard to distribution much yet 

 remains to be done even on our own shores, as the recently 

 established whaling stations show. Not a few species occur 

 on the British shores in the living condition, while others have 

 been beached either immediately after death or when the gases 

 of decomposition have floated the carcasses shorewards. A few 

 forms are confined solely to fresh water, viz. to the great rivers 

 of Asia and South America. 



The Cetaceans, or Whales,* in which term the small as well 



* It is unnecessary in this brief outline to refer to the extensive litera- 

 ture of the subject, but the writings of our countrymen, John Hunter, 

 Eobert Knox, Sir E. Owen, Dr. Gray, Sir William Flower, Sir William 

 Turner, Dr. Murie, Dr. Carte, Prof. Macalister, Prof. Cleland, Prof. D. J. 

 Cunningham, Prof. Clark, Sir John Struthers, Mr. Lydekker, and Mr. 

 Beddard merit special mention ; whilst abroad the labours of the elder 

 Prof, van Beneden, Prof. Sars, Professors Eschricht and Keinhardt, Prof. 

 LiJljeborg, Prof. Collett, MM. Pouchet and Beauregard, Mr. True, Mr. Beale, 

 Prof. Cope, Capt. Scammon, F. Cuvier, Prof. Gervais, M. Lacepede, and Prof. 

 Nansen are equally important. 



