Preface 



This book is the revised translation of my Dutch Walvissen, first pubhshed 

 in Amsterdam in 1958. It was written to record the enormous advances 

 in whale biology made during the past fifty years, when groups of scientists 

 from a number of different fields have turned increasingly to Cetacean 

 studies, and when the development of modern whaling methods has posed 

 problems of applied biology which could only be solved by international 

 investigations. 



The book is not, however, addressed to the expert alone, but aims to 

 interest the widest possible circle of readers in the life of animals which 

 by their size, their strange habits, and the adventurous methods by which 

 they are caught, have for many centuries captivated the imagination of 

 mankind. I shall have succeeded in my task if, with this book, I manage 

 to persuade the public to take a keener interest in whales and dolphins, 

 for there are many aspects of Cetacean life which laymen, and particularly 

 coast-dwellers, are in a better position to study and observe than many 

 an expert. 



Since there is a surfeit of books on whaling and whaling expeditions, 

 and a number of excellent works listing the individual properties of various 

 species of Cetaceans (e.g. Norman and Fraser, 1948), I have concentrated 

 instead on whale physiology, anatomy and behaviour. 



I am fortunate in having found so excellent a translator as Mr A. J. 

 Pomerans, and in having had the whole of his manuscript checked by my 

 old friend, Dr F. C. Fraser, Keeper of Zoology of the British Museum 

 (Natural History), London. Only those who know the vast scope of Dr 

 Fraser's knowledge of Cetacean life can appreciate how much his co-opera- 

 tion has enhanced the value of my book. I am also greatly indebted to 

 A. Jonsgard of Oslo and W. H. Dawbin of Sydney for their many 

 valuable suggestions and amendments, and to Dr A. B. van Deinse 

 (Rotterdam), Dr W. Vervoort (Leyden), Prof. Dr H. Engel (Amsterdam), 

 Prof. Dr P. Budker (Paris), Dr H. Omura (Tokyo), C. de Jong (Haarlem), 



