THE ORDER CETACEA. 7 



It contains an account of the black or Greenland 

 whale, the fin-fish, and the narwhale, but is nothing to 

 boast of. 



The " History of Greenland," by David Crantz, a 

 German missionary of the United Brethren, was pub- 

 lished in English in 1767- It gives the best account of 

 the natural history of the Polar Regions. This is con- 

 fined chiefly to the first volume, which contains descrip- 

 tions of thirteen species of cetaceous animals : only two, 

 however, — the white-fish and the porpoise, — are from 

 his own observation. 



In 1751, Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, pub- 

 lished, in the Danish language, his " Natural History of 

 Norway," which was translated into English, and ap- 

 peared in London in 1755. The second part of this 

 work is chiefly devoted to zoology, and contains many 

 particulars respecting some of the cetdcea ; as the haal 

 fish or great whale, the nebbe-hual or beaked whale, 

 the narwhale, and the porpoise. His account of the 

 great whale is very minute and tolerably accurate, though 

 in many points it borders on the marvellous. His en- 

 gravings are badly executed and are incorrect. 



Among the British Faunse, I may mention Dale's 

 " History of Harwich," Borlase's " History of Corn- 

 wall," already quoted, Neill's " Tour to the Orkney and 

 Shetland Isles," and the Rev. Dr. Fleming's " Natural 

 History of the Shetland Islands." The former of these 

 last two works contains the distinguishing characters of 

 the delphinus cleductor, or Caaing whale ; and the latter 

 notices the several species of cetaceous animals that 

 have appeared on the Zetland shores. Dr. Fleming has 

 also given an excellent account of a species of narwhale 

 in the " Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History of 

 Edinburgh." 



