GENERAL CHARACTERS 229 
in scenes of Arctic adventure ; but this is nothing more (allowance 
being made for the Whale’s peculiar mode of breathing) than what 
always follows severe wounds of the respiratory organs of other 
mammals. 
All the Cetacea are predaceous, subsisting on living animal food 
of some kind. One genus alone (rca) eats other warm-blooded 
animals, as Seals, and even members of its own order, both large 
and small. Some feed on fish, others on small floating crustaceans, 
pteropods, and medusz, while the principal staple of the food of 
many is constituted by the various species of cephalopods, Loligo 
and other Teuthide, which must abound in certain seas in vast 
numbers, as they form almost the entire support of some of the 
largest members of the order. In size the Cetacea vary much, some 
of the smaller Dolphins scarcely exceeding 4 feet in length, while 
others are the most colossal of all animals. It is true that most 
statements of their bulk found in general and even zoological 
literature are greatly exaggerated, but even when reduced to 
their actual dimensions (which will be stated under the respective 
genera) some of the existing Whales exceed in size any animal 
living either at present or in former times of which we have any 
certain evidence. With some exceptions, the Cetacea generally are 
timid inoffensive animals, active in their movements, and very 
affectionate in their disposition towards one another, especially the 
mother towards the young, of which there is usually but one, or 
at most two ata time. They are generally gregarious, swimming 
in herds or “schools” (so termed by the whalers) sometimes 
amounting to many thousands in number; though some species 
have hitherto only been met with either singly or in pairs. 
Although by their mode of life so far removed from close ob- 
servation that it is impossible to become as familiar with them in 
their natural condition as with many other animals, Whales are in 
many respects the most interesting and wonderful of all creatures ; 
and there is much in their structure and habits well worthy of 
study, much that is difficult to understand, and much that leads to 
great generalisations and throws light upon far-reaching philosophical 
speculations. One of the first lessons which a study of these 
animals affords is that, in the endeavour to discover what a creature 
really is, from what others it is descended, and to what it is related, 
the general outward appearance affords little clue, and we must go 
deep below the surface to find out the essential characteristics of its 
nature. There was once, and may be still in many places, a 
common idea that a Whale is a fish. To realise the fallacy of this 
notion we have only to consider what a fish really is, what under 
all the diversities of form, size, and colour known among fishes 
there is common to them all, and we see that in everything which 
characterises a true fish and separates it from other classes, as 
