VTHALES. 3l3 



figured by Shaw. But La Cepede only says, " On \-oit sou- Acco^mt of the 



vent derridie rosil une ^rande tache blanche.*" ^""^H y*'^^^^^^ 



, . , , ,, T , T 1 IV whichlrequent 



The neck, breast, and belly were not, I am told, white, as ,^6 north coast 



in the grampus, nor was there a defined line between the dark ofScoUaud,&c. 



and light parts. Some of the ca'ing whales were, according to 



my information, quite black; others, especially females, had 



only a little grey on the belly. 



The grampus, we are toldf, " seldom remains a moment 

 above water :'^ the Uvea whales, however, as formerly ob- 

 served, " remained ten or fifteen minutes at the surface, jus4 

 as the boats were near or distant." 



The grampus is stated by Dr. Shaw to be a *'very ferocious 

 animal, attacking seals and porpusses :" it has long been con- 

 sidered as the formidable sea-monster spoken of by the an- 

 cientst : but the casing zchale appeared to be a very inoffen- 

 ^sive animal, and the common sand-lance was observed to be its 

 food. 



Under the name o^ grampjis, a similar animal, called by La 

 Cepede, le Dauphin gladiaicur, has generally been confound- 

 ed. The dorsal fin, however, stands much higher than in the 

 grampus, and nearer to tlie head. The pectoral fin is long 

 and narrow like an oar. It is this species, and not the com- 

 mon grampus, that attacks whales, fastening around them like 

 so many bull-dogs, and making them bellow with pain : hence 

 sailors call it the Mlhr. One of this species was, in 1793, 

 taken iu the Thames ; a drawing and descriptioai of which ap- 

 pears 



* " Histoire de&Cetarees," &c. p. 300. 

 f Bingley's " Natural Biography," vol. ii, p, 152, 

 + The small-pyed cachalot (Physeter microps) must certainly be a much 

 more terrible-looking animal. Its head is very large, forming indeed 

 nearly one half of the whole body, v/hich is from 40 to 60 feet long. 

 It is known to be very ferocious, liaving been sceji to attack and tear 

 to pieces the huge Greenland whale. It is not without reason, there- 

 fore, that La Cepede rather considers this animal as the sea-vionstcr of 

 the ancient mythologists — from the devouring jaws of which Perseus 

 delivered the fair candidate for the prize of beauty (Andromeda), and — 

 the horrific aspect of which struck terror into the fiery steeds of Hippo- 

 lytus. It was a cachalot of this kind that was, in the end of the year 

 1769, stranded at Cramond, near Edinburgh, and which attracted rnany 

 thovisands of spectators from that city.— Stark's Picture of Edinburgh, 

 f, 465, 



