ZOOLOGY. 447 



naturalist, he is often at a loss to find its place in 

 any system of Cetology. Besides, the di-a\vings 

 hitherto given of many of the whale tribe are so 

 unlike, and so preposterous, that they tend rather to 

 mislead than to assist the practical zoologist. The 

 mysticetus, or common whale, for instance, is figur- 

 ed by our most respectable naturalists with the 

 most extravagant inconsistency. The diameter, in 

 many of the engravings that I have seen of it, mea- 

 sures fully one-third of the length, making the cir- 

 cumference, (the body being circular), and the length 

 of the animal, nearly equal ; whereas, the actual cir- 

 cumference very little exceeds one-half of the length. 

 Hence, also, as another step towards an improved 

 system of Cetology, I have confined my engravings, 

 as well as my descriptions, to those animals which 

 have come immediately under my own examination, 

 or have been sketched by persons on whose accura- 

 cy and faithfulness I could fully depend; while draw- 

 ings and descriptions that I have met with, when 

 the least doubtful, have been altogether rejected. 



The arrangement I have adopted, is principally 

 that of liinne ; but, with regard to the Cetacea, I 

 have combined Linne with La Cepede. The latter 

 author, who has published the most voluminous and 

 pleasing account of cetaceous animals * that has ever 



* " Histoire Natui'elle des Cetacees." A Paris, I'an xii. 

 de la Republique. 



