40 MAMMALIA. 



to the entrance of the cESophagus, and thence into the stomach. 

 This done, the Whale then lowers its jaw again, and recommences 

 its easy mode of feeding. 



It seems difficult to us to believe that the Whale feeds only 

 on these diminutive crustaceans. Why shoidd it reject medusae, 

 mollusks, and even some fishes ? 



But the Whale does not confine itself to moving about, to going 

 from place to place, to travelling, or to feeding, in order to keep 

 up its immense organism. It is necessary also for it to perpetuate 

 its species. 



At the beginning of spring, then, one sees the males going 

 about by themselves, in search of the females. We soon meet 

 with groups of six or eight Whales, seldom more. When a male 

 and female have paired for the season, the happy couple isolate 

 themselves from the little group, and set out, side by side, on 

 their nuptial tour. They travel, they plajr, they feed together. 

 On these occasions they make gigantic leaps ; they turn over and 

 over many times, the water is agitated, and boils around them 

 for a very great distance. 



The males now go in advance to choose the maritime creeks in 

 which the females may give birth to their young. After having 

 inspected these places, they return. The females then come and 

 instal themselves in a well- sheltered bay, over a deejo layer of 

 sand. Thejr bring forth their young in the middle of autumn. 



Scarcely is the J^oung Whale born before it turns over and 

 swims romid its mother. She now places herself on her side to 

 suckle it, in such a manner that her teat is on a level with the 

 surface of the water.* After a great many useless attempts, the 

 j^oung one takes the teat between its palate, which is not yet 

 armed with perfect whale-bone plates, and its tongue, which is 

 already much developed, and sucks in its mother's milk. What a 

 nurse, and what a nui'sling ! How many quarts of milk does it 

 absorb at each suction ? 



But the young Whale is soon weaned. At the end of six weeks 

 or two months, its whalebone plates have grown, and it can catch 

 its own food itself in the bosom of its great nurse, the Ocean ! Its 

 mother has for it an ardent and excessive love. She watches over, 

 she guides, she defends it ; to save its life she sacrifices her own. 

 * There is no externally prominent teat or mammella. — Ed. 



