3 10 The Hiftory of A N I M A L S. 
fishes. 
Clafs the Fifth . 
P L A G I U R I. 
CETACEOUS FISHES. 
Thofe which have the tail placed horizontally , not perpendicularly y 
#// the former claffes . 
T HESE fifli refpire by means of lungs ; they are viviparous, and the males 
have a penis and tefticles, the females a vulva, ovaries, and paps. 
PHYSETER. 
H E Phyfeter has teeth only in the lower jaw, and they are crooked : on the 
back there is a fin, or a large and tall fpine j and the opening or fiftula for the 
difcharge of the water is in the front part of the head. 
Phyfeter maxilla fuperiore longiore y fpina longa 
in dorfo . 
The Phyfet er y with the upper jaw longefl y and 
with a long fpine on the bach 
This is a very large whale, and it’s figure is very fingular: the head is monftroufly 
big, it is equal in length to the whole body without the tail: the body is very 
thick, and of a figure approaching to rounded, only the back is elevated ; the head, 
however, is thicker than the body, even in it’s thickefi part: the upper jaw or rof- 
trum is at lead: five feet longer than the under, and, even in the under, the roflrum 
is continued two feet beyond the extremity of the jaw-bone : the fhape of the whole 
head is irregular, and there are fome large depreflions on it’s upper part: the eyes are 
remarkably minute in a fifh of this enormous magnitude; they are fcarce larger than 
thofe of a common whiting : the pipe or fiftula for the difcharging water is in the mid¬ 
dle, or a little higher than the middle of the roflrum j it is divided into two paflages 
within, but it is covered by one common operculum : there are no teeth in the upper 
jaw, but in the under there are no lefs than forty-two; they are large, long, of a 
nearly rounded figure, but fomewhat comprefied, and are not firaight, but bent in the 
manner of a fickle; they are thickefi; and moft bent in the middle; they terminate 
at the tops in an acute cone, the point of which turns inward, and, what is more fin¬ 
gular, they diminifh in thicknefs alfo toward the bottom, and there terminate in a much 
fmaller and flenderer root: the tail is large, and placed horizontally, and on the back 
there is a large and long fpine, which occupies the place of a fin. 
This fpecies is a native of the Northern Seas, but not of the very remoteft; we 
have it fometimes about our own northern coafts. The naturalifts were not acquaint¬ 
ed with it till the time of our Sibbald; he has defcribed it under the name of Balasna 
major in inferiore maxilla tantum dentata, dentibus arcuatis falciformibus, pinnam feu 
fpinam in dorfo trahens; Ray has borrowed the fame name. 
Xlje oooiteD- 
toottjeti OftDaie. 
Phyfeter pinna dorfi altiffima y apice dentium piano. 
The Phyfet er y with the back fin very tall y and the 
fummit of the teeth plane . 
XI)t planes 
tootljea CQljaie. 
This is a larger fpecies than the former, and fomewhat re fern Hies it in it’s general 
form : the head is enormoufiy big; it is equal in length to three fourths of the body, 
and toward the hinder part is thicker than the largeft part of the body : there are fe- 
veral oblong and irregular cavities, or depreflions, before the eyes; the eyes themfelves 
are fmall, but not fo extreamly minute as in the preceding fpecies: the fifiula or aper¬ 
ture for difcharging water is in the middle of the head, and has a Angle valve, but it 
is divided into two parts or paflfages within, 
3 
There 
