38 
HABITS OF THE SPERM WHALE : 
by the peculiar and very strong odour of the sperm whale. 
Besides, it is well known, that many kinds of fish are 
attracted by substances possessing a white dazzling ap- 
pearance, for not only the hungry shark, but the cautious 
and active dolphin both occasionally fall victims to this 
partiality, as I have had many opportunities of observ- 
ing, When the Kent, south-seaman, was fishing on the 
S( off-shore ground ” of Peru, the crew caught a great 
number of the sepia octopus, or squid (the peculiar food 
of the sperm whale), in one night, by merely lowering a 
piece of polished lead armed with fish-hooks a certain 
depth into the sea ; the sepias gathered around it in- 
stantly, so that by giving a slight jerk to the line, the 
hooks were easily driven into their bodies. 
The teeth of the sperm whale are merely organs of 
prehension, they can be of no use for mastication, and 
consequently the fish, etc. which he occasionally vomits, 
present no marks of having undergone that process. 
The manner of the young ones sucking is a matter 
involved in some obscurity. It is impossible from the 
curious conformation of the mouth, that the young one 
could seize the nipple of the mother with the fore-part 
of it, for there are no soft lips at this part, but instead, the 
jaws are edged with a smooth and very hard cartilaginous 
substance, but about two feet from the angle of the 
mouth, they begin to be furnished with something like 
lips, which form at the angle some loose folds, soft and 
elastic; and it is commonly believed by the most expe- 
rienced whalers, that it is by this part the young wdiale 
seizes the nipple and performs the act of sucking, and 
which is doubtless the mode of its doing so. 
