attached to the lower jaw, and rise upwards from it to the height of five or six feet, covering the baleen. There are about 300 plates of whalebone, one behind the other, on each side. These form a vast screening" apparatus, to borrow a word from the coal trade. When the whale feeds, it admits into its mouth-which is large enough to contain a merchant-ship's jolly-boat, being at least six feet wide, ten high, and fifteen long-as much sea water as the cavity will hold. It then closes its mouth, and lets the water trickle through the plates of baleen. The bristles on their inner edge retain all the minute floating animals that form the whale's food, which it can then swallow at its leisure. It is curious that so huge a creature should feed on animals that almost require a microscope to see them, but such is the case. The whale's throat, we may add, will scarcely admit a man's hand!

It is an interesting fact, that though the whalebone takes the place of teeth in the adult animal, yet the young, at the moment of birth, have real teeth like other mammals. What a beautiful instance of the unity of organisation in the animal economy does this afford! As growth proceeds, the teeth are re-absorbed into the system, and the baleen developed, to suit the peculiar circumstances in which the whale is placed.

The eyes, as will be seen by the engraving, are about a foot obliquely above and behind the angle of the jaw. They are remarkably small in proportion to the bulk of the animal's body-very little larger than those of an ox. There is no external ear, nor is it till the skin is removed that the existence of the usual ear-bones is discovered.

The tail is enormous, and is a formidable instrument of motion and defence. Its length is about five feet, its width twenty-four.

Next to the whalebone, the most important article of commerce extracted from the whale is its blubber, or fat. This encompasses the whole body, lying immediately under the skin, to the depth of eight, ten, or twenty inches, according to the size, age, or condition of the animal. Four tons of blubber, it is computed, yield three tons (252 gallons) of oil. A full-grown whale will yield about twenty-one tons of oil, and is of the enormous weight of seventy tons.

Their maternal affection is striking and interesting. The cub is easily harpooned; and when this has taken place, the mother exhibits so much anxiety as to be easily brought within reach of the whalers. She keeps close to her offspring, encourages it to swim off, assists its flight by taking it under her fin, and rarely deserts it while life remains. It has been ascertained that the whale breeds only once in three years; doubtless, therefore, this destruction of the young ones has contributed largely to its present scarcity.

It appears, on the whole, that the Norwegians were the first to capture the whale, and that as early as the ninth century. We next find the Biscayans so actively engaged in the business as to furnish harpooners to the English, Dutch, and Flemings, who, in the sixteenth century, commenced the whale fishery near Newfoundland. The Dutch were at first far more successful than the English; but towards the close of the last century, the latter girded themselves to the task, and soon outstripped all their competitors.

Whale-fishing is undertaken in boats, which approach as near as possible to the animal. The harpooner strikes his weapon into the back, either by hand, or by firing it from a gun. The former method, if adroitly practised, is effective at the distance of eight or ten yards, the latter at the distance of thirty yards.

The wounded whale makes a convulsive effort to escape, and this is the moment of danger to the pursuers, for it inflicts the most violent blows on the boat from its head, tail, or fin, as it dives-its favourite method of attempting to escape. Its average stay under water is about thirty minutes. On its re-appearance, the boat that harpooned it, together with the others that have come to assist their comrades, start in pursuit, and each harpooner, as he comes up to the whale, plunges his weapon into its back. The time occupied in the capture of course varies with the powers of endurance of the whale. Scoresby says he has known a whale killed in twenty-eight minutes, while in the chase of others sixteen hours have been fruitlessly employed.

After the capture the carcase is towed alongside the whaler's ship, and "flensed "—that is, its blubber and whalebone stripped off; after which the bones, &c., are thrown into the sea.