occurring in all the important oceans, but it is most abundant off New Zealand, in the Sulu Sea, about the Cape Verde Islands, and in the Indian Ocean. It occurs more generally in the tropics and warm temperate seas than elsewhere. The sperm whale reaches a length of sixty feet or possibly more, but the female is much smaller than the male. The head is enormously large, forming about one-half of the entire bulk of the animal and occupying more than one-third of the entire length. From the head, the body tapers to the tail, and at last rather rapidly. The general color is very dark gray, nearly black on the upper parts, lighter beneath. Old bull whales usually have a large gray spot on the front of the head. The muzzle is very obtuse, almost as if squarely cut off in front, the breadth of it almost equaling the thickness of the body. In a protuberance on the upper part of it is the blow-hole, which is single, situated a little on the left side, and in form not unlike the letter S elongated. The mouth is very large and wide; and the throat, unlike that of the Greenland whale, is very wide, sufficiently so to admit the body of a man. The upper jaw projects some feet beyond the lower, and is destitute of teeth; the lower jaw has from 20 to 25 teeth on each side, according to the age of the animal. The teeth are conical and slightly recurved, projecting about two inches from the gum. The lower jaw is extremely narrow, the two branches being in contact throughout the greater part of its length; it fits into a groove in the upper, in which are cavities for the teeth. The eyes are small, and placed far back in the head, above the angles of the mouth; the left eye is said to be smaller than the right. Just above the eyes, the dorsal line rises considerably; the dorsal fin is also represented by a protuberance about half-way between the neck and the tail; and these parts are seen above water in the ordinary swimming of the animal, which is at the rate of from 3 to 7 miles an hour, and just under the surface of the water, although when alarmed it swims with greater velocity. The enormous head of the sperm whale is occupied in large part by an aggregation of numerous small chambers separated and divided by connective tissue, in front of the cranium and above the upper jawbones, called by whalers the case, which are filled with the spermaceti; sometimes as much as ten barrels of it occur in a single case. The blubber of the sperm whale is only about a foot thick and is not notably rich in oil, a large whale yielding about 100 barrels. When aroused these whales are dangerous adversaries, and either by biting or striking with the tail they can completely destroy whale boats, while by using the head as a ram they can sink small vessels. The remaining Denticete are mostly of small size and comparatively little importance. See Dolphin; Porpoise; Narwhal; Killer.
LOWER JAWS AND TEETH OF A SPERM WHALE.
The Mysticete (Mystacoceti, Balaenoidea)
include the true whales, those without teeth. They
are nearly all of large size, some of them being
the largest of living animals. The largest species
is probably the sulphur-bottomed whale of the
Pacific Ocean (Sibbaldius sulfureus), which
reaches a length of 90 feet or more, and the
weight of which has been calculated to approach
150 tons. Several genera of whalebone whales
are recognized, but the most important is Balæna,
to which belong those species that supply the
most valuable whalebone and oil. The most
important species is the Greenland or Arctic right
whale (Balæna mysticetus), which is circumpolar
in its distribution, but does not range far
to the southward, preferring the regions of
icebergs and ice-floes. It attains a size of sixty or
seventy feet in length. The body is thickest a
little behind the ‘flippers,’ or pectoral fins, tapering
conically toward the tail, and slightly toward
the head. The tail is five or six feet long, and
from twenty to twenty-five feet broad, formed of
two diverging lobes, broadest almost where they
are united, but with a slight indentation. The
pectoral fins are eight or nine feet long and four
or five feet broad. The mouth is fifteen or sixteen
feet long. The eyes, which are situated on the
sides of the head, about a foot above and rather
behind the angles of the mouth, are not larger
than those of an ox; but the sense of sight seems
to be acute, at least in the water. The blow-holes
are situated on the most elevated part of the
head; they are from eight to twelve inches long,
but of comparatively small breadth. The upper
parts are velvety black, the lower, parts white.
The upper parts, in very old whales, sometimes
become piebald, the black being mixed with white
and gray. The period of gestation is uncertain;
one young is produced at a birth, and is from ten
to fourteen feet in length when born. The mother
displays great affection for her offspring, of
which whale-fishers sometimes take advantage,
harpooning the young one—itself of little value—in
order to secure the mother. Suckling is
performed at the surface of the water, and the
mother rolls from side to side, that she and the
young one may be able to breathe in turn. The
usual rate of progress in swimming is about four
or five miles an hour, and whales often swim
not far beneath the surface of the water, with
the mouth wide open to take in water from
which to sift food. This whale is capable,
however, of swimming with much greater rapidity.
Its tail is extremely powerful, and a single blow
of it is sufficient to destroy a large boat. Whales
usually come to the surface to breathe at
intervals of eight or ten minutes, but they are
capable of remaining under water for half an
hour or more. When they come up to breathe,
they generally remain on the surface about two
minutes, during which they blow eight or nine
times, and then descend. The noise which they
make in blowing is very loud, and the spout of
spray ejected ascends several yards into the air,
appearing at a distance like a puff of smoke.
They often assume, as if in sport, a vertical
position, with the head down, and flap the surface
of the water with the tail, making a sound
which is heard two or three miles off. The Greenland
whale is not properly gregarious, being
generally found alone or in pairs, except when
numbers are attracted to particular feeding-grounds,
