2 6o Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



In the other are the rorquals and the humpbacked 

 whales. But the difference between the families is one 

 of degree rather than of kind. In the right whales, 

 known technically as the Bahenidce, the whalebone is 

 very long; in the other whalebone w^hales, the Bahenop- 

 terid^e, the whalebone is comparatively short. Further- 

 more, the right whales have nc dorsal fin, while the 

 rorquals invariably are possessed of this appendage, 

 though in some specimens it is rather small. Another 

 means of identification for t^^os? w'^o chance to meet 



GREENLAND WHALE. 



with them at sea is by their manner of disappearing 

 under the surface. The right whales dive with the 

 great head almost straight down into the water, throw- 

 ing upward the flukes of the tail, while the rorquals, on 

 the other hand, sink out of sight gradually, much in the 

 way that a submarine boat disappears from view. 



The most famous of the right whales is the Green- 

 land, or Arctic, whale. This is the true polar species, 

 seldom or never being found far from the Arctic ice. 

 It was at one time the object of a great luiropean 

 fishery. Holland, England, and France were chiefly 

 engaged, but a large Dutch settlement in Spitzbergen 

 employed no less than 260 ships and 14,000 men in 



