fin, and whitish on the back; the NEW ENGLAND WHALE, with a hump on the back; the WHALE WITH SIX HUMPS on the back; the FIN FISH, with a fin on the back near the tail; the PIKE-HEADED WHALE; and the ROUND-LIPPED WHALE. All these differ from each other in figure, as their names obviously imply. They differ also somewhat in their manner of living; the Fin Fish having a larger swallow than the rest; being more active, slender, and fierce; and living chiefly upon herrings.

The GREAT GREENLAND WHALE is the fish, for taking which there are such preparations made in different parts of Europe. It is a large heavy animal, and the head alone makes a third of its bulk. It is usually found from sixty to seventy feet long. The fins on each side are from five to eight feet, composed of bones and muscles, and sufficiently strong to give speed and activity to the great mass of body which they move.

The tail is about twenty-four feet broad; and, when the fish lies on one side, its blow is tremendous. It is a cu

*This whale occurs most abundantly in the frozen seas of Greenland and Davis' Straits, in the bays of Baffin and Hudson, in the sea to the northward of Behring's Strait, and along some parts of the northern shores of Asia and probably America. It is never met with in the German Ocean, and rarely within 300 leagues of the British coast; but along the coasts of Africa and South America, it is met with periodically in considerable numbers. In these regions it is attacked and captured by the Southern British and American whalers as well as by some of the people inhabiting the coasts, to the neighbourhood of which it resorts. Whether this Whale is precisely of the same kind as that of Spitzbergen and Greenland is uncertain, though it is evidently a mysticetus. One striking difference, possibly the effect of situation and climate, is, that the mysticetus, found in southern regions, is often covered with barnacles, while those of the Arctic seas are free from these shell fish.-Godman.

rious piece of mechanism, consisting of two lobes wholly made up of strong tendinous fibres, connected with the major part of the muscular structure of the body. Of those fibres there are three distinct layers, of which the two external are in the direction of the lobes, and the internal in an opposite direction. This structure renders the tail of the Whale one of the most flexible of animal organs. 'It can move all ways with equal ease; every part has its own individual motion.

The skin is smooth and black, and in some places marbled with white and yellow; which, running over the surface, has a very beautiful effect. The outward or scarf skin of the Whale is no thicker than parchment; but this removed, the real skin appears, of about an inch thick, and covering the fat or blubber that lies beneath: this is from eight to twelve inches in thickness; and is, when the fish is in health, of a beautiful yellow. The muscles lie beneath and these, like the flesh of quadrupeds, are very red and tough.

The cleft of the mouth is above twenty feet long, which is near one third of the animal's whole length; and the upper jaw is furnisned with barbs, that lie, like the pipes of an organ, the greatest in the middle, and the smallest on the sides. These compose the whalebone, absurdly called fins, the longest spars of which are found to be not less than eighteen feet. The tongue is almost immoveably fixed to the lower jaw, seeming one great lump of fat; and, in fact, it fills several hogsheads with blubber. The eyes are not larger than those of an ox; and when the crystalline humour is dried, it does not appear larger than a pea. They are placed towards the back of the head, being the most convenient situation for enabling them to see both before and behind; as also to see over them, where their food is principally found. They are guarded by eyelids

and eye-lashes, as in quadrupeds; and they seem to be very sharp sighted.

Nor is their sense of hearing in less perfection; for they are warned, at great distances, of any danger preparing against them. We have already observed, that the substance, called whalebone, is taken from the upper jaw of the animal, and is very different from the real bones of the Whale. The real bones are hard, like those of great land animals, are very porous, and filled with marTwo great strong bones sustain the under lip, lying against each other in the shape of a half-moon; some of these are twenty feet long: they are often seen in gardens set up against each other, and are usually mistaken for the ribs.

row.

The fidelity of these animals to each other exceeds whatever we are told of even the constancy of birds. Some fishers, as Anderson informs us, having struck one of two whales, a male and a female, that where in company together, the wounded fish made a long and terrible resistance: it struck down a boat with three men in it, with a single blow of the tail, by which all went to the bottom. The other still attended its companion, and lent it every assistance; till, at last, the fish that was struck sunk under the number of its wounds; while its faithful associate, disdaining to survive the loss, with great bellowing, stretched itself upon the dead fish, and shared his fate.

The Whale goes with young nine or ten months, and is then fatter than usual, particularly when near the time of bringing forth. The young ones continue at the breast for a year; during which time they are called by the sailors short-heads. They are then extremely fat, and yield above fifty barrels of blubber. The mother, at the same time, is equally lean and emaciated. At the age of two years they are called stunts, as they do not thrive much imme

diately after quitting the breast: they then yield scarce above twenty or twenty-four barrels of blubber: from that time forward they are called skull-fish, and their age is wholly unknown. The food of the Whale is a small insect which is seen floating in those seas, and which Linnæus terms the Medusa. These insects are black, and of the size of a small bean, and are sometimes seen floating in clusters on the surface of the water. They are of a round form, like snails in a box, but they have wings, which are so tender that it is scarce possible to touch them without breaking. These, however, serve rather for swimming than flying. They have the taste of raw muscles, and have the smell of burnt sugar. Inoffensive as the Whale is, it is not without enemies. There is a small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the Whale-louse, that sticks to its body, as we see shells sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. This insinuates itself chiefly under the fins; and whatever efforts the great animal makes, it still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, which it is provided with instruments to arrive at.

The sword-fish, however, is the Whale's most terrible enemy. "At the sight of this little animal," says Anderson, “the Whale seems agitated in an extraordinary manner, leaping from the water as if with affright: wherever it appears, the Whale perceives it at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction, I have been myself," continues he, "a spectator of their terrible encounter. The Whale has no instrument of defence except the tail; with that it endeavours to strike the enemy; and a single blow taking place would effectually destroy its adversary: but the sword-fish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its enemy, and endeavours not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. The sea all about

is soon dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the Whale; while the enormous animal vainly endeavours to reach its invader, and strikes with its tail against the surface of the water, making a report at each blow louder than the noise of a cannon."

There is still another and more powerful enemy, called, by the fishermen of New England, the killer. This is itself supposed to be a cetaceous animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. A number of these are said to surround the Whale, in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. Some attack it with their teeth behind; others attempt it before; until, at last, the great animal is torn down, and its tongue is said to be the only part they devour when they have made it their prey. They are said to be of such great strength, that one of them alone was known to stop a dead Whale that several boats were towing along, and drag it from among them to the bottom.

But of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the greatest: he alone destroys more in a year than the rest in an age, and actually has thinned their numbers in that part of the world where they are chiefly sought. At the first discovery of Greenland, Whales not being used to be disturbed, frequently came into the very bays, and were accordingly killed almost close to the shore; so that the blubber being cut off was immediately boiled into oil on the spot. The ships in those times took in nothing but the pure oil and the whalebone, and all the business was executed in the country; by which means a ship could bring home the product of many more Whales than she can according to the present method of conducting this trade. The fishery also was then so plentiful, that they were obliged sometimes to send other ships to fetch off the oil they had made, the quantity being more than the fishing ships could bring away. But time and change of