THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 45 
Méthodique in 1789.' He was well acquainted with the literature, conscious of the 
errors existing, and in his introduction endeavored to impress on his readers the 
necessity of more accuracy and detail in the descriptions of cetaceans. He seems, 
however, to have had little personal familiarity with the animals he treated of, and 
was therefore at a disadvantage in estimating the accuracy or inaccuracy of the 
naturalists who preceded him. The matter relating to the whalebone whales is 
almost entirely a compilation, but the scientific names applied to the various 
species are of interest. 
All the whalebone whales are assembled in the genus Galena, The species 
are as follows: 
1. B. mysticetus. “Greenland Whale.” (P. 1.) 
“This species is very common toward the North Pole, in the Greenland and 
Spitzbergen seas, chiefly beyond the 66th degree, north latitude.” (P. 3.) 
An excellent general account is compiled from various authors, including 
Fabricius, but there is no new matter other than a table of measurements of a 
specimen 48 feet long, reported by Captain de Pagés. 
2. B. glacialis. “The Nordcaper.” (P. 3.) 
“Tnhabits the northern seas, about Norway and Iceland.” 
3. DB. physalus. “The Gibbar.” (P. 4.) 
“Found in the seas of Greenland, the European Ocean, India, and the New 
World.” 
The account of the species is compiled chiefly from Martens, Linnzus, and 
Fabricius. 
4. B. nodosa. “The ‘tampon’ whale.” (P. 5.) 
“Found in New England.” 
This is Dudley’s Humpback. Bonnaterre quotes from Dudley’s account, but 
does not realize that this is the sole original source, and that all the other authors 
he cites take their information from it. 
5. B. gibbosa. “The whale with ‘bosses.’” (P. 5.) 
“Tnhabits the seas about New England.” 
This is Dudley’s Scrag whale, though Bonnaterre takes his information from 
Anderson and Klein, and is at a loss to understand why the former should assert 
that it yields as much oil as 4. mysticetus, while the latter calls it meagre (B. 
macra). This apparent contradiction is due, of course, to the fact that Dudley 
states that the Scrag whale is “nearest to the Right whale for quantity of oil,” 
while Klein has translated the word “scrag” by macra. 
‘BONNATERRE, Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Régnes de la Nature— 
Cetologie. Paris, 1789. 4°. 
