NO. 1163. NOMENCLATURE OF THE WHALEBONE WHALES— TRUE. 621 



quently impossible to arrive at any defiuite couclusion as to the appli- 

 cability of LiimiTius's name niysticetus from a study of tlieir works. We 

 must therefore get what satisfaction we can from Linnteus'sown words, 

 and it would seem that even here the only certain indication is to be 

 found in the phrase "lives in the Greenland Ocean.'' This, as already 

 mentioned, may probably be considered as a sufficient warrant for 

 attaching- the specific name " mysticetus" to the bowhead. There is, 

 so far as I know, no record of the occurrence of the bhick whale in 

 Greenland waters, and, furthermore, it is well known that there was an 

 extensive fishery for the bowhead in those waters in Liunttus's time. 



THE FINBACK AND HUMPBACK WHALES. 



We pass now from the bowhead to the consideration of the other 

 whalebone whales mentioned by Linnaeus. These are three in number — 

 Physalus, Boops. and Museulus. 



I. BAL^NA PHYSALUS. 



Linuivus's diagnosis of this species is as follows: "A whale with the 

 nostrils in the middle of the head; an adipose fin at the end of the 

 back.'" The only other bit of information is — " lives in the European 

 Ocean." 



It is evident that these data, though they suffice to indicate a finback 

 whale, are insufficient to enable us to associate the name Physalus with 

 any one of the four European species, and if the matter is to be 

 resolved at all it will be through the help of the authorities cited by 

 Linna'us. Taking these in chronological order, the first we meet with 

 is Rondelet. The citation is as follows : 



"Physeter. Rond. pise. 485"= RONDELET, De Piscibus marinus, 1554, p. 485. 



The whale which Rondelet describes under the name of Physeter, in 

 the work above mentioned, is probably the sperm whale, though the 

 figure which heads the chapter represents an animal having teeth in 

 both jaws and the blowhole on the top of the head, somewhat as ia Orca. 

 In any event, it can not be counted among the whalebone whales, and 

 Linnams was in error in citing it under this or any other of his species 

 of Balwna. 



" Physalis bellua s. Physeter. Gesn. pise. 723." 



I understand this to refer to Gesner's Historia Auimalium, Liber IV, 

 and possibly the edition of 1G20. I have seen only the first edition of 

 1558, in which, on page 851, begins a chapter entitled "'De (Physalo 

 bellua, sen) physetere, rondeletius." The description here given is 

 quoted verbatim from Rondelet, and the figure which heads the chapter 

 is also from that author. So far as the present species is concerned, 

 therefore, Gesner's work can not be cited as an independent source of 

 information. 



1 "B, uaribus in medio capite dorso extremo pinna adijiosa" (p. 75). 



