622 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxi. 



"Finfisch. Martens, spitsb. 125. t. q. f. c." = MARTENS, Spitzbergische oder Grbnlandische 

 Beise Beschreibung getban im Jabr 1671. Hamburg, 1675, p. 125, pi. Q, fig. c. 



In chronological order, Martens comes next after Eondelet and Ges- 

 ner among the authors cited by Linnaeus. Martens visited Spitz- 

 bergen ' in 1671, and his Beschreibung includes an account of the various 

 marine animals found in the waters thereabouts. 



Tliese descriptions are very full for the time in which they were writ- 

 ten, and are of especial interest, both because they represent the source 

 from which many later authors drew their information, and because 

 they appear to have been based largely on personal observation. 



Martens's description of the "Finfisch" is as follows: 



The tin fish is equal to the whale IBalcena mysticetua'] in size. 



As to thickness, the whale is, however, three or four times as thick as the finfish. 



The liuiish is recognized when in motion by the " J^lossf ederu " or fins, which stand 

 on the bark, near the tail. 



It is distinguished also by the strong spouting from the right whale, which does 

 not l)low so powerfully. 



The eminence on its head is divided longitudinally, and this is its blowhole, out 

 of wliich it blows the water higher and stronger than the whale. 



The eminence, however, is not so high as in the whale, and the back is likewise 

 not so deeply furrowed. 



The lips of the finfish are of a brownish color and diversified with plaits (Erausen), 

 like a line or streak. 



On the upper lip hangs the so-called whalebone, as in the whale, l)ut whether it 

 opens and shuts its moixth is variously l)elieved. Some hold that it can not shut its 

 mouth. It is not so, however. It moves (but not always) with open mouth. Its 

 whalebone, like that of the right whale, does not hang out on the sides outside the 

 lips. It can shut its mouth completely when it will. 



The inside of the mouth between the whalebone is entirely rough with hairs, like 

 horsehair, which are situated on the inside of the whalebone and on the little whale- 

 bone, which develops first, and is blue in color. 



The other whalebone is brown in color; also dark brown, with yellow streaks, 

 which is considered the oldest.- 



The blue is found in young whales and finfish 



In color it [i. e., the finfish] is not velvet black, like the whale, but like the fish 

 called "Schley" [the tench, Tinea vithjaris}. 



The form of the body is long, round, and slender, and has not so much blubber as 

 the whale, on which account one does not particularly care to catch the finfish, as it 

 does not repay one for the trouble. 



It is much more dangerous to kill than the whale, because it can move and turn 

 much rpiicker, for it strikes about it with his tail and from it (von sich) with 

 its flippers, called fins, so that one can not come near it with boats, when the 

 lances help most to kill it.' 



This description is accomi^anied by a figure which shows with con- 

 siderable fidelity the characteristic form of a finback whale, but the 

 furrows of the throat are wanting, a peculiarity which has attracted 

 the attention of many zoologists. 



1 Or East Greenland, as it was then frequently called. 



2 In describing the Greenland whale, he refers to the whalebone as being "some- 

 times yellow in color, with parti-colored streaks, like that of the finfish" (p. 99). 

 ■' Spitzbergische oder Groenliindische Reise, Beschreibung, 1675, pp. 125, 126. 



