Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/605

 WHALE 581 teridce or catodontidce, or the sperm whales, have no baleen plates, but 40 to 50 conical teeth in the lower jaw with internal cavities ; this is shorter and narrower than the upper, and completely enclosed by it when the mouth Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus). is shut ; the teeth fit into cavities in the upper jaw, which has some rudimentary teeth con- cealed in the gums ; the head is of enormous size, one third the whole length of the body, nearly cylindrical, truncated in front with a single /-shaped blow-hole in the anterior mar- gin of the snout ; the greater part of the bulk of the head is made up of a cartilaginous en- velope or " case," containing an oily fluid hard- ening on exposure to the air, and well known as spermaceti ; there is a false fin or protuber- ance on the hind part of the back. The old genus physeter (Linn.) has been variously sub- divided by modern authors, and not always on what seem sufficient grounds. The best known and largest of the sperm whales is the P. ma- crocephalus (Shaw), or blunt-headed cachalot of the whalemen ; it belongs to the genus cato- don of Lac6pede. The males attain a length of 60 to 75 ft, and the females are about half as long; the color is blackish and greenish Skull of Sperm Whale. gray above, whitish beneath and about the eyes. The skeleton is very similar to that of the dolphin, except in the head ; the cervicals are 7 and united except the first, dorsals 14 or 15 with as many pairs of ribs, and the other vertebra 38 to 40, with strong processes and of nearly the same size to within seven or eight of the end ; tho pectoral limbs are 4 to 6 ft. long and 2 to 3 ft. wide; dorsal protuber- ance about 2 ft. high, and blow-hole about a foot long; eyes larger than in the right whale, and tongue thick and soft; mamma about a foot in diameter, concealed in folds of the skin, with a nipple several inches long; the mouth is immense, and the gullet is capable of swallowing an object as large as a man. They are distributed in all seas, but principally in those of the southern hemisphere, living in deep water and very rarely approaching land ; they are usually seen in companies of 20 to 50 females and young, with one or two old males or bulls ; they feed chiefly on cuttle fishes and other cephalopodous mollusks abundant in the southern seas; the males fight savagely, as their distorted and broken jaws fully testify. Inspiration must be very quickly performed, as the nose is rarely out of water more than a few seconds at a time; they make 60 or 70 respirations while remaining about 10 minutes at the surface ; when the spoutings are over, if undisturbed they descend, remaining down from half an hour to an hour. They are eager- ly hunted, as their oil is the finest for burning, and the spermaceti valuable for the manufac- ture of candles and for medical purposes ; am- bergris, highly prized in the making of per- fumery, is also a product of the intestines of the sperm whale; the blanket or blubber of a single individual will yield 80 or more barrels of oil ; the spermaceti is contained in tendinous compartments communicating with each other, and the product of a single one is sometimes more than a ton ; as a rough estimate, the yield of spermaceti is about one fifth that of oil. Though naturally timid, it is more dangerous to attack than the baleen whale, both the tail and teeth being used as offensive weapons, and a whole shoal sometimes coming to the assistance of a wounded comrade ; the stoutest ship will spring a leak after being struck by the head of one of these immense creatures. Other smaller species are found in the north- ern seas. The beluga or white whale, and the deductor or glolicfphalus, have been described under DOLPHIN. The diodons have no teeth in the upper jaw, only two in the lower, a de- pressed forehead, and the lower jaw much larger than the upper; a rare species is found in the Mediterranean, 15 or 16 ft. long. Tho hyperoodon or bottle-nosed whale of Honfleur has a rounded and prominent forehead, a short and strong beak ; it is rare, and attains a length of 20 to 25 ft. In the aodon or toothless whale of Havre, the body is fusiform, with a distinct appearance of neck, jaws prolonged into a cy- lindrical beak without teeth ; it attains a length of 15 to 20 ft., is very rare, and seems to con- nect the whale with the dolphin family. Fos- sil whales have been found in the upper ter- tiary and the diluvial formations of America and Europe ; their remains have been obtained in the Green mountains near Lake Champlain, 60 ft. above the lake and 150 ft. above the sea,