416 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICAN'S 



ORDER OF WHALES, PORPOISES, DOLPHINS 



Cetacea 



(From Getus and Ketos, the Latin and Greek words for 

 Whale, — Whale meaning roller.) All of this order live on 

 animal food and are helpless on land. One species, the 

 Killer AVhale, eats other warm-blooded animals. 



Family of True AA^hales 

 BalEenidae 



(Number of Noi-tli American Species, Seventeen) 



Has plates of baleen, the horny fibre known as whale- 

 bone, growing from its palate. Feeds on Sea mollusks. 



Bowhead Whale .... . . Balwna mysticetus. 



Length, 45-50 feet. 



Finback Whale . Ba/oenoptera musculus. 



Length, 66-70 feet. 



Family of Spbem Whales 

 Physeteridae 



(Number of North American Species, Two) 



This family lives on squids and cuttlefish, among other 

 things. It yields the perfume called ambergris. Sperma- 

 ceti, a lardy substance used in making candles, is found in 

 a great cavity in the skull. The fat blubber, which covers 

 the body under the skin, making it easy for the Whale to 

 float, yields sperm oil. 



Cachelot, or Common Sperm Whale . Physeter macrocepfialus. 

 Length, 55-60 feet. 



Family of Dolphins 

 Delphinidae 



(Number of North American Species, Twenty-ci^lit) 



Common Porpoise ... .... Phocwna phocmna. 



Length, 4J feet. 



