108 
CETACEAN GALLERY. 
being made for the Whalers peculiar mode of breathing) than what 
always follows severe wounds of the respiratory organs of other 
mammals. 
All the Cetacea prey upon living animal food of some kind. 
One genus alone {Orca) eats other warm-blooded animals, as 
Seals^ and even members of its own Order, large and small. 
Many feed on fish, others on small floating crustaceans, pterapods, 
and medusae, while the principal staple of the food of many is 
constituted by the various species of cephalopods, especially Loligo 
or Squid, and its allies, which must abound in some seas in vast 
numbers, as they form almost the entire support of some of the 
largest members of the Order. 
In size the Cetacea vary much, some of the smaller Dolphins 
scarcely exceeding four feet in length, while others are the most 
colossal of all animals. It is true that most statements of their 
bulk found in general and even zoological literature are greatly 
exaggerated ; but even when reduced to their actual dimensions 
(which will be mentioned hereafter with the different species) some 
of the existing Whales exceed in size that of any animal living 
either at present or in former times of which we have any certain 
evidence. 
With some exceptions the Cetacea are timid, inoffensive animals, 
active in their movements, and very affectionate in their disposition 
towards one another, especially the mother towards the young, of 
which there is usually but one, and at most two, at a time. They 
are generally gregarious, swimming in herds or “ schools ” (so 
termed by the whalers), sometimes amounting to many hundreds 
in number, though some species have hitherto only been met with 
either singly or in pairs. 
The great commercial value of the oil, which all the Cetacea 
yield, and the special products useful to man of certain species, as 
whalebone, spermaceti, &c., cause them to be subject to an unre- 
mitting persecution, which has. of late greatly diminished their 
numbers, and threatens some of the most interesting species with 
total extermination. 
The existing members of the Order are separated into very 
distinct Suborders, having important differences in their structural 
characters, and with no transitional or intermediate forms. These 
