40 FISHES I HAVE k'NOlVN 



over the other . . the bundle of hairs from the 

 tips of the baleen fit into a hollow at the edge of 

 the jaws." A marvellous mechanism, which caused 

 the great naturalist to remark that no theory of 

 self-development, but only the omniscience of Him 

 who on the fifth day completed the work of 

 creation, would account for.' 



Last in my summary of the whale species is the 

 huge rorqual, slender and elegant, in outline like a 



WHALEBONE, OK "RIGHT" WHALR. 



clipper, distinguished by having a dorsal fin which 

 is conspicuous as it tears along the surface of the 

 water. It swallows shoals of small fish, such as 

 ■herrings and mackerel, and has a small and 

 apparently useless fringe of baleen, but no teeth. 

 When fish are scarce it perhaps uses the baleen to 

 catch Crustacea. 



■ Whalebone was in December, 1904, worth ^3,000 a ton 

 for choice lots, or more than a sovereign per pound weight. 



