404 SMALL, AND SMALL-EYED CACHALOT. 
this unshapely animal. In its great outlines we 
still recognize the general characters of the order ; 
and though inferior in size to the whale, it is far 
more tremendous in its aspect, and fiercer in its 
manners. 
Small cachalot. 
This fish is described by Sibbald, who mentions 
a shoal consisting of an hundred and two that was 
cast on shore at the same time upon the Orkney 
isles. According to that writer, it wanted the 
spout-holes, that are reckoned characteristic of 
this order of fishes ; it is probable, however, that 
what he has described as nostrils, was this opening, 
which nature, as we have already seen, has destined 
for a different purpose. 
This species is far inferior in size, to that above 
described ; the largest of that great number just 
mentioned did not exceed twenty-four feet in 
length. Its head is round, and the shape of the 
teeth the reverse of those of the blunt-headed kind. 
They are smaller at the back than* at the top, 
where they are quite flat, marked with concentric 
lines. Their bottomis pierced with a small orifice, 
bearing no resemblance to the large cavity, de- 
scribed In the former species. The back fin is 
wanting ; instead of it is a rough knotty kind of 
space. 
Small-eyed cachalot. 
f v " 
This is of equal, and sometimes even superior 
size to the first described species, and is a native of 
the northern seas. The head is very large, and 
nearly half the length of the body ; the eyes extreme- 
ly small, and the snout slightly obtuse ; on the 
back is a long, and somewhat upright, narrow* 
