38 THE AVHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



observations make it certain that there is a ' Scrag' Right whale in the North Pacific 

 which corresponds very nearly to that of the southern ocean." ' Macy, in his His- 

 tory of Nantucket, infoi'ms us that it was the appearance of "a whale of the kind 

 called Scrai^f" in the harbor there which led to the establishment of the whale 

 fishery on that island.- 



From these three observations it is evident that the term "scrag" is regularly 

 included in the whaleman's vocabulary. That there is a separate species to which 

 the name applies is impi'obable, but it is still uncertain whether it merely character- 

 izes abnormal individuals of the various s[)ecies of Right whales, or definite vai'ieties 

 of one or moi'e species of Right whales, or abnoi-mal individuals of the large whales 

 generally. The word " scrag," of course, means emaciated, ill-favured, or rough and 

 crooked. Further reference to this subject will be made latei' on. 



In 1741, we have for the first time, in Klein's Histoi'ia Piscium, a summing 

 up by a systematist of the American observations prior to that date. His classifi- 

 cation is somewhat artificial and his nomenclature rather unsystematic. His synoptic 

 table, in so far as it applies to the large whales, is as follows ■': 



( I. In Dorso \xv\ apinnes. 

 ( ( I. Edentulre ■< 2. In Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



Physeteres ] I Balcense < ( 3. In Dorso pinnatK. 



II. Dentata; f i. Dorso Ijevi apinnes. 



2. Dorso Ijevi pinnatae. 



3. Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



4. Dorso gibbo pinnatai. 



The various species enumerated are as follows : 



BaL>EN;€ EdENTULjE. 



In Dorso laevi apinnes. 



1. Baht?ia vera Zorgdrageri. [ = Bowhead.] 



2. BalcBfia albicans; Weisfish Martensii &= Zorgdr. [ = White whale.] 



3. BalcEna glacialis; ita communiter: Eisfisch. 



a. Australis; Zud-Eisfisch; dorso valde depresso, Zorgdrageri. 



b. Occidentalis; West-Eisfisch; dorso minus depresso, Ejusdetn. 



c. Borealis; Nordkaper, Ejusdem. [= Atlantic Right whale.] 

 In Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



1. Gibbo unico prope caudam. Anglis : The Bunch or Hunibak Whale . . . Fin- 

 fisch. Vid. Transact Phil. Vol. XXXIII. No. 387. P. 258. [ = Hump- 

 back whale of Dudley.] 



2. Gibbis vel Nodis sex. Balana macra. Anglis: Scrag- Whale. . . . Phil. 

 Trans., ibid. [ = Scrag whale of Dudley]. 



In Dorso pinnatse. 



1. Ore Balance vulgaris, laminis corneis donato. 



a. Balsena edentula, corpoire strictiore, dorso pinnato Raji. Finfish Zorgdr. 

 Physeter Gesn. Anglis. Finbak-Whale. . . . Phil. Trans, al. I. 

 [Includes the Finback of Dudley.] 



b. Jubartes; Balaena novas Angliae. [The Bermuda Humpback of the anony- 

 mous writer in /"///^.f. Trans., \, 1665, pp. 11-13.] 



2. Ore rostrato. [Not American.] 



' SCAMMON, C. M., Marine Mammals, 1874, p. 67. 



'Macy, O., History of Nantucket, 1835, p. 28. 



'Klein, J. T., Historite Piscium naturalis, pt. 2, 1741, pp. 9-16. 



