R. BROWN ON THE CETACEA OF GREENLAND, 71 



the order.* The inside of the mouth inferiorly, where the tongue 

 is not attached, is of a pale blue colour. The tongue is broader 

 posteriorly, and narrowed anteriorly, paler blue than the rest of 

 the mouth, and pale blue all round the edges and where not 

 carnation, which colour prevails in the form of a streak down the 

 mouth of a deep sulcus on the middle and anterior portion of the 

 tongue, terminating irregularly about two feet from the root of 

 the tongue. The contour of the tongue is entire throughout. 

 The substance of the tongue is a fibrous blubber containing very 

 little oil. There are numerous small linear muscles interspersed 

 through the lower part. The roof of the mouth, on each side of 

 the gum, is a continuous curve, broadest anteriorly, pale blue, 

 sides pale blue and carnation mixed. The upper lip is very much 

 smaller than the under. The lips are furrowed immediately behind 

 the edge and bevilled, and are all deep black and speckled. No 

 traces exist of either eyebrows or eyelashes. The eye is very small 

 and hollow, measuring from canthus to canthus 3 J inches (in 

 adult), and 1^ inch deep, with a deep furrow superiorly and 

 inferiorly immediately above and below the eye. The inside of 

 the eyelid is red. The aperture of the auricular canal is difficult 

 to find, and is not larger than the diameter of a goose-quill. The 

 laminsB or " splits " of whalebone are longest in the middle, but 

 grow much shorter posteriorly to this ^' size-split." The number 

 of laminae is about 360 on each side. The whalers have a notion 

 that there is a lamina for each day in the year ; but this, like the 

 idea that Jonah's face can be seen on the nose of the Whale, is, 

 I am afraid, a rather hasty generalization. Each lamina ends in 

 a tuft of hair, this tuft being continuous with the hair on the 

 inside of the bone, this " hair " again being composed of iden- 

 tically the same substance as the whalebone itself. The outside 

 of the bone is smooth, pale blue-coloured, with the edges over- 

 lapping, the free edges pointing posteriorly, but with an interval 

 (varying according to the age of the animal) between the laminai 

 of so very regular a character that each lamina can be seen and 

 even counted from the outside. Where the bone is placed in the 

 gum it is of a greyish-white colour, and on exposure to air 

 becomes black ; all of the portions of the bone most exposed are 

 of a blackish colour. On the outside of the laminse, a few inches 

 from the end, is a transverse wave or ridge, continuous in a 

 slightly elevated ridge across the whole of the laminas; and in 

 old Whales there are several of these wavy transverse ridges, 

 which are apparently in some way connected with its growth. 

 The best whalebone has several of these ridges. Interiorly in 

 front of the place where each lamina is inserted into the gum, 

 are several rows of short stumps of whalebone terminated by a tuft, 

 and before these again short white hair laminae graduating inlu 



* The colour also varies with the age, the back of some being black, of 

 others black and white, and some are all white. Some old Whales are said to 

 have a broad white stripe over their back down to the belly (Laing's " Voyage 

 to Spitzbergen," p. 126 ; 1815). I cannot confirm this from my own obser- 

 vation. 



