WHALE TRIBE. ' 
WHALE TRIBE, 
Most of the species of this tribe are sixty feet 
and upwards in length,, and none of them under 
twenty. Their skin is in general black, or brown ; 
very thick, and altogether without hair : it is often 
observed to have marine plants and shell-fish adher- 
ing to it. Some of the whales inhabit the northern, 
and some the southern ocean : and one or two of 
the species are found in both. The females generally 
produce but one young one at a time. 
The external conformation of the fishes of this 
genus, no less than their size, serves to characterise 
them among the other inhabitants of the deep. 
They are covered with a dark coloured cinereous 
skin ; they are* moved, commonly against the 
wind, and with vast rapidity by means of a hori- 
zontal tail, aided by three fins ; two pectoral, and 
one back fin ; but in some species, the last is want- 
ing. The head is commonly extremely large, in 
proportion to the size of the body, being in some 
equal to a third of the size of the fish. The ani- 
mal is directed to its prey by two small eyes, fur- 
nished with eye-lids, and not -superior in size to 
those of an ox. As the cetaceous tribes all 
breathe by means of lungs, they have no branchiae 
nor external apparatus for that purpose. In the 
middle of the head, there is one, sometimes two 
orifices, through which they spout water to a vast 
height, and with a great noise. With these ori- 
fices raised above the surface, the whales sleep and 
breathe, gently moving their fins, to keep them 
poised upon the summit of the water. When im- 
mersed below the surface, or while devouring their 
food, water unavoidably rushes into the throat and 
