ON THE WHALE FISHERY FROM SCOTLAND 85 



the subject, especially if the " krangs " are towed out to 

 sea and sent adrift, as has been done in the past season. 



A very successful fishery for Fin Whales was established 

 at St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1897, on the same lines as 

 the Norwegian, and so far does not appear to have met with 

 any opposition from the line fishermen. 



It remains to give a brief account of the species of the 

 whales which form the objects of pursuit in this third phase 

 of the whale fishery, and to point out certain features by 

 which they may readily be recognised. 



The great order of marine mammals known as the Cetacea is 

 divided, very unequally so far as the number of species is 

 concerned, into two sub-orders : the Mystacoceti, in which teeth are 

 absent, but their place, in the upper jaw, is taken by a wonderful 

 series of laminae, graduated in size, known as baleen, or popularly 

 as " whalebone " ; in the second sub-order, Odontoceti, teeth more 

 or less numerous are present, and this latter division comprises all 

 the toothed whales, from the giant Sperm Whale to the smallest 

 Dolphin. It is with the first sub-order that we have to do, and 

 this is again divided into two families Balrenidse and Balcenopteridse. 

 The first family consists of only two species, found in the North 

 Atlantic the Polar Right Whale and the so-called Atlantic Right 



o o 



Whale (BalcRna biscayensis}. In the second family are the great 

 Hump-backed Whale (Megaptera longimana) and four species of 

 Balaenoptera known as the Common Rorqual or Finback (B. 

 musculus] : Sibbald's Rorqual (B. sibbaldii), the " Blue Whale " of our 

 whalemen and the " Sulphur-bottom " of the Americans ; and two 

 smaller species, Rudolphi's Rorqual (B. borealis] and the Lesser 

 Rorqual (B. rostrafa}. All these latter may at once be distinguished 

 by the curious furrows, like the "ribs" in knitted stocking, 

 extending longitudinally from the throat to the abdomen, admitting 

 of a vast integumentary expansion of these regions. 



With the Polar Right Whale we have nothing to do, as it is not 

 found in the regions visited by the Fin-whalers ; but although the 

 ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE (Bal&na biscayensis, or australis as it is now 

 more generally called) is never likely to form any considerable item 

 in the whalers' returns, it must not be passed over unnoticed. As 

 before stated, this is the species which was formerly hunted by the 

 Basques and was long believed to be virtually exterminated ; but 

 there is no doubt certain whales seen in Peterhead Bay in the years 

 1806 and 1872 belonged to this species, and the late Captain D. 

 Gray told me of other instances in which similar whales were 

 observed in about the latitude of Cape Farewell. It has also been 

 met with in the harbour of St. Sebastian and in the Gulf of Taranto. 



