WHALES— DOLPHINS. 377 



One of the most famous phenomena in the life of the 

 Whales is what is known as their " blowing " or " spout- 

 ing," about which many contradictory statements have 

 been made. It has constantly been said that when a 

 Cetacean comes to the surface to breathe, it throws up 

 from its blow-holes a great jet of water, which in the 

 larger species reaches to an extraordinary height. The 

 theory by which this was explained was that the water was 

 taken into the mouth, and then, the gullet being closed, was 

 forced by the movements of the tongue and jaws through 

 the nasal passages, and thence through the valvular opening 

 of the blow-holes. But the results of more recent and 

 careful observations — amongst which we may notice those 

 of Bennett, Von Baer, Sars, and Burmeister — are directly 

 opposed to the statement that water is thus ejected, and 

 there can now be no doubt that the appearance which 

 has given rise to the idea is caused by the moisture with 

 which the expelled breath is supercharged, which con- 

 denses at once in the cold outer air and forms a cloud or 

 column of white vapour. It is possible, indeed, that if 

 the animal begins to "blow" before its head is actually 

 at the surface, the force of the rushing air may drive up 

 some little spray along with it, but this is quite diiferent 

 from the notion that water is really expelled through the 

 nasal passages. We may add that on the only occasion 

 when we have ourselves witnessed the "spouting" of a 

 large Whale we were much struck with its resemblance 

 to the column of white spray which is dashed up by a 

 " ricochetting " ball fired from one of the great guns of a 

 man-of-war. 



There does not appear to be any remarkable peculiarity 

 in the reproduction and lactation of the Cetaceans, The 

 placenta is diffuse, and the teats, which are two in number, 

 are inguinal in position. It has been supposed that the 



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