Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/126

116 and near the entrance of the throat being consequently the shortest. The longest of these laminæ often measure fifteen feet and upwards in length, and the abbreviation, anteriorly and posteriorly, is gradual. Each plate, as we have said, is fringed, and the filaments of the fringe are very numerous, and fill up the cavity of the mouth sufficiently to form a strainer."

WHALE FISHERY.

The habits and economy of this species agree in many points with those of the Sperm Whale; and the general features of the "fishery" for both are the same; but there are many differences in the details. The Greenland Whale seems to be, now at least, confined to the icy ocean that