94 The Animal-Lore of Shahspeares Time. 
first mention of whale bones or fins being used in various 
articles of ladies’ dress. These fins, as explained by 
Edge, are the horny laminae adhering to the upper jaw 
of the whale, and are a substitute for teeth. They are 
only found in perfection in the Greenland whale and a 
few other varieties. The spermaceti and white whales 
possess teeth and no fins. The expression so often used, 
“ white as whale’s bone,” arose from the supposition on the 
part of early English writers that ivory was a portion of 
the bones of the whale. The ivory of the Middle Ages 
was supplied chiefly by the walrus, whose teeth were 
brought over in considerable quantities by the Northern 
fishermen. Shakspeare only follows numerous examples 
when he writes :— 
“ This is the flower that smiles on every one, 
To show his teeth as white as whale his bone.” 
(Love’s Labour Lost , v. 2, 331.) 
Harrison, describing the extreme North of Scotland 
and the Orkney Isles, writes :— 
“ Such plentie of whales also are taken on this coast that the verie 
tithe hath beene knowne in some one yeere to amount unto seaven 
and twentie whales of one greatnesse and other.” ( Holinslied , vol. i. 
p. 73, ed. 1807.) 
Shakspeare mentions the whale several times, and it is 
quite possible he may have seen a stranded specimen. 
Gesner tells of a whale that was cast on shore near Tyne¬ 
mouth Haven, in 1532, which measured ninety feet in 
length. 
The Whirlpool is included by Harrison in his list 
Marine °f English fishes. The description of this 
Monsters. cre ature by Glaus Magnus will, however, 
apply to no known species. The northern chronicler 
informs us that— 
“ the whirlpool, or prister, is of the kind of whales, two hundred 
cubits long, and is very cruel. For, to the danger of sea-men, he will 
