M8 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



Skull of Whale, with the Baleen. 



of saws in a saw-mill. Their interior edges are covered with 



fringes of hair; externally tbey are 

 curved and flattened down, so as to 

 present a smooth surface to the lips. 

 The largest laminae, situated on both 

 sides of the jaw, attain a length of 

 fifteen feet, and measure from twelve 

 to fifteen inches at their base ; in 

 front and towards the back of the 

 mouth they are much shorter. 



Besides these, there are suspended from the palate many other 

 small laminae of the thickness of a quill, a few inches long, and 

 likewise terminating in a fringe. Thus the whole roof of the 

 mouth resembles a shaggy fur,, under which lies the soft and 

 spongy tongue, a monstrous mass often ten feet broad and 

 eighteen feet long. 



This whole formation is beautifully adapted to the peculiar 

 nourishment of the whale, which does not consist, as one might 

 suppose, of the larger fishes, but of the minute animals, {Medusa, 

 EntoTnostraca, Clio borealis, and other 

 pteropod molluscs,) with which its pas- 

 ture-grounds in the northern seas abound. 

 To gather food, it swims rapidly with open 

 mouth over the surface ; and on closing 

 the wide gates, and expelling the foaming 

 streams, the little creatures remain en- 

 tangled by thousands in the fringy thicket , 

 as in a net; there to be crushed and bruised 

 by the tongue into a savoury pulp. Fancy the vast numbers 

 requisite to keep a monster of seventy tons in good condition. 



The back of the whale is usually of a fine glossy black, marked 

 with whitish rays, which have some resemblance to the veins of 

 wood. This mixture of colours presents an agreeable appearance, 

 especially when the back of the fish is illuminated with the rays 

 of the sun. The under part of the trunk and of the lower jaw 

 is of a dead white. The skin is about an inch thick, and covers 

 a layer of fat of fifteen inches ; a most excellent coat for keeping 

 the whale warm and increasing its buoyancy, but at the same 

 time the chief cause which induces man to pursue it with the 

 deadly harpoon. 



Clio borealis. 



