OF THE UNITED STATES 379 



animals, is performed with a greater amount of emphasis. The 

 moment the animal rises to the surface it forcibly expels from its 

 lungs the air taken in at the last inspiration, which, of course, 

 is highly charged with watery vapor in consequence of the nat- 

 ural respiratory changes. This, rapidly condensing in the cold 

 atmosphere in which the phenomenon is generally observed, 

 forms a column of steam or spray, which has been erroneously 

 taken for water. It also often happens, especially when the sur- 

 face of the ocean is agitated into waves, that the animal com- 

 mences its expiratory putt' before the orifice has quite cleared the 

 top of the water, some of which may thus be driven upward with 

 the blast, tending to complete the illusion. In hunting Whales 

 the harpoon often pierces the lungs or air passages of the unfort- 

 unate victim, and then fountains of blood may be forced high in 

 the air through the blowholes, as commonly depicted in scenes of 



Fig. 93. Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis). ( After Flower.) 



Length of adult, 10 feet. 



arctic adventure; but this is nothing more (allowance being made 

 for the Whale's peculiar mode of breathing) than what always 

 follows severe wounds of the respiratory organs of other ani- 

 mals." 



The refined oil known as " spermaceti " is manufactured from 

 that oil which is found in the great cavity above the skull in the 

 Sperm Whale, while " ambergris," so extensively used by per- 

 fumers in their art, is found in the intestines of the same animal, 

 and sometimes floating on the surface of the seas they inhabit. 



By the aid of modern appliances, the chase and capture of 

 these huge mammals has within recent times been reduced al- 

 most to a science, but an account of such matters would, in the 

 opinion of the writer, be out of place in the present connection, 

 dealing as we are more particularly with the life histories of 

 these Cetaceans; it will be as well to add, however, that their 

 constant pursuit and destruction by man must in due time tell 

 markedly on their numbers, if it does not lead to their actual ex- 

 termination. 



