200 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



27 feet long) was brought into the harbour of St Sebastian, 

 and came into the hands of Professor Geoffroy. The latter 

 communicated with Professor Eschricht of Copenhagen, who 

 would seem to have been already firmly convinced, by 

 historic evidence, of the existence of the creature as a separate 

 and distinct species ; he went to Pampeluna to inspect the 

 skeleton, and was able to establish the fact that it belonged 

 to a separate species, quite distinct from the Greenland 

 whale. 1 



After it had thus been shown that the Sarde or Nordcaper 

 was, after all, a true and separate species, it was still believed 

 that it was on the very verge of extinction ; and the few 

 stragglers that occurred from time to time' 2 (including the 

 celebrated Tarento whale, described by Capellini in 1877) 

 were not enough to alter this opinion, until Guldberg 

 recorded the capture off Iceland, by Norwegian whale-fishers, 

 of some seventeen individuals during the years 1889-91. 

 The Nordcaper is doubtless rare enough, in comparison with 

 its former numbers ; but it is far from extinction, and its 

 recent capture in not inconsiderable numbers off our own 

 western coasts is one of the most interesting results of the 

 Scottish (and Irish) whale-fishery. 



The following is a brief epitome of the catch of Nordcapers 

 by our Scottish stations, from 1908 to 1914, according to the 

 season, or month, of capture : 



1 Cf. Eschricht and Reinhardt, On the Greenland Right-whale, Ray 

 Society, 1866, p. 46, etc. 



- Markham (Joe. at.) gives a few other records, down to 1878, of the 

 appearance of this whale on the Basque coasts, 



