THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 53 



The great work on the Greenland Right whale published by Eschricht and 

 Reiuhardt in 1861 ' interests us chiefly on account of the discussion of the relation 

 of £. mysticetns to the Nordcapej-, in the course of which numei'ous facts relatin*' to 

 the Right whale of the east coast of temperate North America are commented upon. 



In 1858 Eschricht published an article on a new method of studying the 

 Cetacea,^ in which he called attention to the desirability of making ol)servations 

 at the various whale-fishing stations in different parts of the woi'ld. Araon" the 

 stations mentioned ai-e those in Davis Strait, where Captain Holbiill obtained so 

 much valuable material for Eschricht's researches. The manner in which this 

 material was obtained is described, and a summary given of the species frequentino' 

 Davis Strait, their migrations and other data. 



Eschricht's essay on the geographical distribution of the northern whales in 

 eailier times and at present,^ which was published in 1849, relates chiefly to the 

 Greenland whales. It is one of the earliest, as well as one of the best, treatises on 

 the distribution of the cetaceans. His paper entitled "Researches on the Distri- 

 bution of the Cetacea in the Northern Seas," ^ published in 1864, is also almost 

 entirely devoted to the Greenland whales, and treats particularly of the migrations 

 of Balcuna mysticetns in Davis Strait. 



In a work called "Newfoundland in 1842," Sir Richard Bonnycastle devoted a 

 chapter to cetaceans, in which he calls attention to the whale fishery cariied on 

 there, and notes various cetaceans he has observed about the island. The article 

 is unfortunately largely taken up by citations from Scoresby, Dewhui-st, and other 

 authors, and it is not ahvays clear whether the statements made are based on 

 Bounycastle's own observations or derived from the works mentioned. Deprived 

 of extraneous matter, the article, in so far as it relates to baleen whales, amounts 

 to this — that Sir Arthur saw a " ^. acuto-rostrata, or sharp-nosed whale," within a 

 day's sail of St. John in 1840 ; that the commonest sjtecies in Newfoundland waters, 

 as he believes, is the '^ Ji.ji/hartes, or pike-headed finner," with a dorsal fin 2^ feet 

 high, and which feeds upon capelin, etc. ; that whales of various sizes and kinds 

 are common in the St. Lawrence, about Gaspe, and on the Labrador coast; that he 

 repeatedly saw a " black and gi-ey " whale in the Bay of Seven Islands, St. Lawrence 

 River, in 1831 ; that on the 23d of Jnly, 1840, at the entrance to Conception Bay, 

 Newfoundland, he saw a " pipe-headed whale " about twenty-five feet long, with a 

 brown back and white belly ; that on July 24, 1840, he saw " whales innumerable " 

 in Conception Bay and continued to see some of them all the way to St. John's.* 



' Eschricht og Rkinhardt, Ora Nordhvalen. Dansk. Vid. Sels. Skrif., 5, 1S61, 433-589. 

 Translation in Ray Society Publications, under the title of " Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea." 

 Edited by Sir Wm. H. Flower. 



' Eschricht, D. F., Sur une nouvelle Methode de I'Etude des C^tac^s. Comptes Rendus Acad. 

 Sci. Paris, 47, 1858, pp. 51-60. 



' Eschricht, D. F., Om de nordiske Hvaldyrs geographiske Udbredelse i ncervaerende og i 

 tidligere Tid. Forhandl. Skand. JSTaturforsk. Ste Mode, 1849, pp. 103-118, pi. i. 



* Eschricht, D. F., Recherches sur la Distribution des C^taces dans les Mors Bor^ales. Ann. 

 Sci. Nat., Zool., I, 1864, pp. 201-224. 



' BoNNVCASTLE, A., Newfoundland in 1842, i, pp. 239-255. 



