. The seals and whales of the British seas. isfurnished with about twenty-five large conical teeth on each side ; but thenumber is not constant, nor is it always the same on each side. In the upperjaw are no visible teeth, but those of the lower jaw shut into correspondingdepressions in the upper. The tongue is small, and, like the lining of the 9° SEALS AND IVHALES OF THE BRITISH SEAS. mouth, of a white colour. The upper part of the head, called the case,contains the spermaceti, which upon the death of the animal granulatesinto a yellowish substance. Beale says that a large Whale not unfreque
. The seals and whales of the British seas. isfurnished with about twenty-five large conical teeth on each side ; but thenumber is not constant, nor is it always the same on each side. In the upperjaw are no visible teeth, but those of the lower jaw shut into correspondingdepressions in the upper. The tongue is small, and, like the lining of the 9° SEALS AND IVHALES OF THE BRITISH SEAS. mouth, of a white colour. The upper part of the head, called the case,contains the spermaceti, which upon the death of the animal granulatesinto a yellowish substance. Beale says that a large Whale not unfrequentlycontains a ton of spermaceti. Beneath the case is situated the junk,which consists of a dense cellular mass, containing oil and spermaceti. Theblubber is about fourteen inches thick on the breast, and in most other partsof the body from eight to eleven inches. By the whalers this covering iscalled the blanket. With regard to the apparently ungainly head of theSperm Whale, Beale remarks as follows:—■ One of the peculiarities of the. Fir;. 20. Skull of yiKjtH Wilale. Sperm Whale, which strikes at first sight every beholder, is the apparentlydisproportionate and unwieldy bulk of the head ; but this peculiarit}^ insteadof being, as might be supposed, an impediment to the freedom of the animalsmotion in its native element, is, in fact, on the contrary, in some respects, veryconducive to its lightness and agility, if such a term can with propriety beapplied to such an enormous creature ; for a great part of the bulk of thehead is made up of a thin membranous case, contaming, during life, a tliinoil, of much less specific gravity than water, below which is again the junk,which, although heavier than the spermaceti, is still lighter than the element SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTISLL SEAS. 91 in which the Whale moves ; consequently, the head, taken as a whole, islighter specifically than any other part of the body, and will always have atendency to rise at least so far above the
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