File:Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia (1896) (19792962653).jpg

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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THE SPERM WHALES. 575 jaw backward on each side of the mouth; a similar furrow is found farther back at the throat; the rest of the skin is smooth and glistening, of a more or less uniform black tint, but as a rule darker on the upper than on the lower surface. The range of the Bottle-nosed Dolphin seems to be restricted to the Arctic Ocean and the north of the Atlantic; but it undertakes regular migrations thence, which lead it into waters that are a consid- erable distance south of its usual range. It makes an annual appearance near the Faroe Islands and not infrequently appears off the coasts of Great Britain and even ascends some of the favorably situated British rivers. Cuttle-fish, mollusks and small fish form its diet. Of the former it consumes enormous numbers: the remains of over 10,000 of these animals have been found in the stomach of a captured specimen. Kuekenthal affirms taat its div- greater part of their length, and are beset with an array of conical teeth of nearly equal length, while the dental formations of the upper jaws hardly de- serve the name of teeth. Description of The Sperm Whale is inferior in size the Sperm only to some of the largest Whale- Whale. bone Whales. There are statements to the effect that some old males have been encoun- tered which measured one hundred feet, but one will probably come nearer the truth, when no exact meas- urements are given, if he accepts the length to range between sixty-six and seventy-six feet, the circum- ference between thirty and forty feet and a width of tail of sixteen and one-half feet. This holds good for male or "bull" Whales, for the females are, without exception, considerably smaller, not even attaining half the length of the males. In propor- tion to the dimensions of the body the pectoral fins
Text Appearing After Image:
THE NARWHAL This species differs so greatly from all other members of the order of the Whales that it is classed alone in a sepa- rate genus. Its most characteristic feature is found in the ions; tusks which project from six to ten feet; ajid another is the m,merous spots which (Monodon tnonocerus.) mark its sides. It is plentiful in all the seas of the north, but is rarely seen south of the Arctic circle are remarkably small. In the largest of the Sperm Whales they measure only six and one-half feet in length and forty inches in width. The huge, block- ing powers are remarkable considering its compara- tively small size: a harpooned Bottle-nose took off three hundred fathoms of line and remained forty- five minutes under water. £be Sperm Mbalcs. SIXTH FAMILY: Catodontid*. The fourth family of the Toothed Whales (Cato- dontidce) is represented by the Cachalot. Spermaceti Whale or Sperm Whale ( Catodon or Physeter macro- cephalus), the tvpe of the genus of the same name (Catodo/i), the most uncouth member of the whole order. It is characterized by its enormous head, protuberant at the extremity of the snout and ab- ruptly cut off; bv the possession of a single blow- hole.'placed somewhat to the left, and by the pecul- iar formation of the lower jaw, the two halves of which lie close together and almost parallel for the like head, which is abruptly truncated in front, has the same height and breadth as the body, into which it merges without distinct demarcation or the inter- position of a neck. The body is very thick in the anterior two-thirds and then tapers towards the tail. In the last third there is a low, humpy bulbous, im- mobile dorsal fin, which sometimes has a cut-off appearance behind and gradually merges into the body in front. The short, broad, thick pectoral fins are placed immediately behind the eyes and have five longitudinal furrows on the upper surface, cor- responding to the five phalanges or fingers encased in the integument, while the lower surface is smooth. The tail-fin is not deeply forked and has two flukes, the margins of which are indented in youth. The blow-hole is a -lit of from eight to twelve inches, and curved sc what like the letter S; in contra-

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