314 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



origin from terrestrial mammals, and are to be regarded as some 

 of the most specialized of the creatures dealt with in this Book 

 of the Animal Kingdom. It has been suggested by one eminent 

 scientist that the Whales are most closely related to the Ungulates, 

 "but," writes Mr. Lydekker, "the teeth of the earliest forms are 

 quite unlike those of any Ungulates, and approximate much more 

 closely to those of Carnivores. It may, therefore, be suggested that 

 the alliance between Cetaceans and Carnivores may prove to be 

 closer than is often considered to be the case." There are more 

 species possessing teeth than there are without them, and these 

 teeth are "of a simply conical or compressed form ; and in many of 

 the Dolphins they are much more numerous than in any other 

 mammals." In the toothless species — as the Greenland so far under 

 consideration — the place of the teeth is occupied by the horny plates 

 called "baleen," as already described, but when young, even these 

 toothless Whales are found to possess rudiments of teeth situate 

 low down in the gums. 



It will be readily conceded that great difficulty must be experi- 

 enced in studying the habits of these giants of the deep, for, 

 excepting when coming to the surface to take in a fresh supply of 

 air, or gambolling in the water as previously referred to, no amount 

 of continuous observation is possible, and were it not for the 

 experiences of those who have been engaged in the whaling trade, 

 our knowledge — poor as it undoubtedly is — would be far less than 

 at present. When we come to consider the build of the mammalian 

 monarch, then it is that we are able to ascertain how it is possible 

 for it to live, but to find out some of the many hidden secrets of 

 its home life is the intense wish of those who take an intelligent 

 interest and delight in the world's animals and their ways. 



Occasional glimpses are, it is true, obtained by seafarers' of 

 the Cetacean during some of its more interesting movements, 

 especially when it has young. The mother Whale is, we are told, 

 a most solicitous parent, and shelters her young in a most pathetic 

 way. She is neither a coward nor a giant brute devoid of maternal 

 cares, and her solicitude for her young one has been touchingly 

 described by the few reliable persons who have had the good 

 fortune to watch her when she has had a baby under her care. 



When one of these mighty denizens of the deep does happen 

 to lose its bearings, as it were, and become stranded, the huge form 

 of the animal is sure to arrest attention, but is a matter of much 



