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We will now close our account of the misnamed sloth, by hoping that our readers agree with us in thinking, that so far from its being the indolent monster of deformity it has generally been represented, that it is one amongst numberless examples which might be particularly selected as an instance of Divine wisdom and beneficence.

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THE GREENLAND WHALE.

Balana Mysticetus.

THE whale tribes are distinct from both fishes and land animals, though partaking of the characters of both. They resemble fishes in form, are furnished with a tail of the fish kind, and have fins or paws for motion in the water, which is their exclusive habitation. They resemble the land animals in having warm blood, giving suck to their young, having no scales, and in requiring to breathe air.

One of the largest of this tribe of "mighty monsters" is the Greenland whale, an inhabitant of the Arctic regions. When full grown, it measures from fifty to sixty feet in length, and from thirty to forty feet in circumference, immediately before the fins, which are close to the eyes, and called by Dr. Fleming "swimming paws;" they

are nine feet in length, enclosed by very elastic membranes, with bones similar in form and number to those of the human hand. It is thickest a little behind the fins, and from thence gradually tapers towards the tail. The head is disproportionably large, forming indeed about a third of the whole bulk. The bones of the head are very porous, and full of a fine kind of oil. Fat or oil, which is lighter than water, is abundantly supplied to fishes, in order to counteract their tendency to sink in this fluid; it would otherwise require a constant effort on their part to keep themselves at any given level. When the oil is drained from the bones of the head, they are so light as to float in water. The spermaceti whale has a purer kind of oil in a large reservoir at the top of the head, and this enables the animal to keep above the surface of the water without any exertion whatever. The enormous jaw-bones are from twenty to twenty-five feet in length, and extend along the mouth in a curved line; when the mouth is fully extended, the cavity is capable of receiving a ship's jolly boat with her crew. The tongue is of great

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