OF CETACEOUS FISHES. 
46 
inoffenfive, proportioned to its ability to do mifchief. 
Among land-animals, we have had occafion to obferve, 
that fovereignty does not always follow ftrength or 
£ze * : The elephant and camel fly before the tyger and 
the lion ; while the eagle pofleffes a decided fuperiority 
over the vulture and the oftrich. The fame law obtains 
among the inhabitants of the ocean ; where the whale, 
if he holds the fceptre, holds it by a precarious tenure, for 
it may eafily be wrefted from him by his fubje&s. There 
is a ftrong analogy between his manners and thofe of the 
elephant : Both are the ftrongeft and larged animals in 
their refpective elements ; neither oiTers injury ; and 
each is terrible when provoked to refentment. 
But thefe peaceable and innoxious habits do not equal- 
ly belong to the whole of the cetaceous order : The fin- 
fifli differs from the great whale in this refpeft ; it fub- 
fifts chiefly upon herring, and is often feen driving valt 
flioals of them before it. Thofe of the cachalot tribe are 
dill more voracious, and commit greater depredations : 
They are fumilhed with teeth both in the upper and low- 
er jaw; their throat, though inferior in capacity to that of 
the cartilaginous i! flies, is much larger than in the com- 
mon whale; and thefe powers of deglutition were pro- 
bably conferred to gratify the cravings of an appetite 
proportionably more voracious. It is faid, that the filli- 
es of this genus are poffeffed of a courage, that often 
proves fatal even to the animals of their own order : they 
purfue and terrify the porpeffes to fuch a degree, that 
they often drive them alhore f. 
The common whale, whatever honours vulgar preju- 
dices may have conferred upon it, has no pretenfions to 
the 
* Vide Euffosi, Ilift. gen. et part. t viii Lin - Sj-ftem. Naturae. 
