266 



ZOOLOGY. 



plates, the fibres acting as a strainer. Tliree thousand five 

 hundi'ed pounds of wlialebone iiave l)een oljtained from a 

 single bow-hcail or Greenland wliale (BalcBiia mysticetus). 



The cachelot or spei'ni-whide (Fliyi<eter macroceplialus, 

 Fig. 303) has an enormous head, and is williout the power 

 of smell. In llie upper jaw are cavities filled with a fatty 

 fluid called spermaceti, used in the manufacture of candles, 

 ointments, and cosmetics, such as cold cream. A large 

 sperm-whale will yield 2500 kilograms of this substance. 

 Another valuable substance is ambergris, a nioi-bid product, 

 the result of injury to the intestines by the beaks of cuttle- 

 fishes, upon which animals the toothed whales largely prey. 

 It is a kind of bezoar or gall-stone, fatty, aromatic, burn- 

 ing with a clear flame. It is composed of benzoic acid. 



Fig. 304.— The Pigmy Whale (Kogia Flnweri). 



united with chlorine, of a balsamic substance, and ambrain. 

 It is used in making perfumes. 



But the chief use of whales is the oil extracted from the 

 fat enveloping the body, called lilubber by whalers. The 

 most valuable of the whales is the Greenland whale, as it 

 contains the most oil, individuals having been known to 

 yield nearly three hundred barrels. 



The wliale fishery first sprang u]i in the twelfth century 

 in the Bay of Biscay. In the New England colonies whales 

 were jiursued in boats from tlie shore. In 18.54 the fishery 

 culminated; since then it has deci'eased. It is principally 

 carried on by Americans, New Bedfoi'd being now the lead- 

 ing ])ort from which whalers are sent out to the Arctic re- 

 gions and Bebring's fSlra.its, one linndied and ten vessels 

 having been sent out in 1870 from this port. 



