82 
NATURE OF THE 
sibly be appropriated by the sperm whale to the same 
purpose.” 
This is an unaccountable error on the part of the 
compiler of the Naturalist’s Library. The apparent 
banks above mentioned, and which I have myself fre- 
quently seen in various parts of the ocean, are certainly 
formed by myriads of medusae, and other small animals 
which form the sustenance of the balaena mysticetus’ or 
Greenland whale’s food; which consists of animals of the 
shrimp tribe, and other minute creatures which are closely 
congregated, and swarm in those animated “ banks,” but 
of which the sperm whale never partakes, as it is not 
s< very possible,” but quite impossible that he could do 
so, however inclined he might be, on account of the 
organization of his feeding apparatus, which may be 
readily seen when its form is referred to. 
By what means could the sperm whale separate the 
minute animals which he might enclose within his jaws 
from the sea water in which they are contained ? If the 
sperm whale had the means of doing so, of what use is 
the baleen plates or screens to the balsenae, or black 
whales, which are known to feed in the banks before 
adverted to? 
The sepia octopus, or “ sea squid,” as it is termed 
by whalers, sometimes reaches an enormous size. Mr. 
Henry Baker, f.r.s., in the Philosophical Transactions 
for 1758, p. 777, after having given an interesting de- 
scription of a specimen, sent to him for examination by 
the Earl of Macclesfield, states that “ it can, by spread- 
ing its arms abroad like a net, so fetter and entangle the 
