THE ORDER CETACEA. 1] 



well as to please some of my zoological friends, I shall 

 give an account of the latter in the proper place. 



The whale, however, which is considered the most 

 important in a commercial point of view, and which, in 

 fact, constitutes the sole object of our expeditions to 

 the Arctic Seas, is the balcena mysticttus, or common 

 black Greenland whale. This species, as I shall show 

 hereafter, is extremely valuable, on account of the 

 abundance of oil which it produces; and, being con- 

 siderably slower in its motions as well as more timid 

 than many of the same genus which are about the same 

 magnitude, it is consequently much easier captured. 



Mr. Ray, in his " Synopsis Piscium," has a chapter 

 headed " Pisces sive Cetacei Belluce Marina;" and his 

 friend, Mr. Willoughby, in his treatise " De Historia 

 Piscium," also considered them as a species of the class 

 of fishes, although possessing some distinguishing pecu- 

 liarities of structure. The former writer, whose natural 

 arrangement of fishes is excellent, and deserves no com- 

 mon praise, divides them into two principal sections ; 

 the one comprehending those that possess lungs for the 

 important offices of respiration ; and the second those 

 that have gills, or hranchue, for performing the same 

 function : the latter division constituting fishes in the 

 truest sense of the word. 



The reasons offered by Mr. Ray for uniting these two 

 distinct classes and species of animals are these — 



1 st. Because the configuration or shape of their bodies 

 strictly agrees with that of fishes. 



2dly. Because they are entirely naked, or covered 

 only with a smooth skin. 



3dly. Because they are oceanic inhabitants, and 

 have all the actions of fishes. 



Notwithstanding all these arguments by Mr. Ray, 



