208 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



appearance of being full of coarse brown hairs ! The " finners " 

 are black. 



The tongue is black in colour, very soft, and looks not 

 unlike a huge bagful of soft spongy tissue. After the head 

 had been separated from the body, from its posterior part, I 

 could just pass my fist through the gullet to the mouth. 



I have stated before that there are several large tubercles on 

 the face ; these are here placed on longitudinal ridges. One of 

 these ridges is centrally situated, and the anterior nares are 

 behind this ridge, where there is a central depression, and the 

 two openings, each about a foot long and elliptical, and going 

 out posteriorly from the centre at an angle of 45°, is surrounded 

 by roughened skin, probably sensitive ; on either side are a pair 

 of lips. 



I have had the opportunity of seeing a wounded Whale 

 "blow" at quite close quarters, not more than twenty feet 

 away, and this occurs: in the act of expiration these " lips " 

 are erected on either side, and then directly after the inspiration 

 they fall over the openings, and thus effectually close them. 



The true skin is about a quarter of an inch thick ; it is very 

 elastic and springy, like indiarubber. It appears to be composed 

 of columnar rods or tubes, which are arranged vertically from 

 the body outwards (probably, in life, oil exudes from the blubber 

 through these tubes, thus keeping the skin perpetually coated 

 with oil). It is very firmly adherent to the blubber by connec- 

 tive tissue, and it is covered by a thin layer of epidermis, which 

 readily peels off in large flakes after a short exposure of the body 

 to the air. When a piece of skin has been soaked for a couple 

 of days in cold water, the pigment is extracted, and the water 

 becomes dark, almost black in colour. 



There are distinct flabby eyelids six or eight inches long ; 

 there is a rete mirabile inside the lids, and also at the posterior 

 part of the eyeball. These retia mirabilia are found at all parts 

 of the Whale's body ; they even surround the intestine, and are 

 no doubt concerned in the purification of the blood in the long 

 respiratory acts. The eyeball is four inches across by two and a 

 half inches deep ; the cornea is one inch and a half across by 

 one inch and one-eighth in the perpendicular measurement. The 

 lens is only three-quarters of an inch across by half an inch 



