THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 53 
The great work on the Greenland Right whale published by Eschricht and 
Reinhardt in 1861! interests us chiefly on account of the discussion of the relation 
of B. mysticctus to the Nordcaper, in the course of which numerous facts relating to 
the Right whale of the east coast of temperate North America are commented upon. 
In 1858 Eschricht published an article on a new method of studying the 
Cetacea,” in which he called attention to the desirability of making observations 
at the various whale-fishing stations in different parts of the world. Among the 
stations mentioned are those in Davis Strait, where Captain Holboll obtained so 
much valuable material for Eschricht’s researches. The manner in which this 
material was obtained is described, and a summary given of the species frequenting 
Davis Strait, their migrations and other data. 
Eschricht’s essay on the geographical distribution of the northern whales in 
earlier times and at present,’ which was published in 1849, relates chiefly to the 
Greenland whales. It is one of the earliest, as well as one of the best, treatises on 
the distribution of the cetaceans. His paper entitled “Researches on the Distri- 
bution of the Cetacea in the Northern Seas,” * published in 1864, is also almost 
entirely devoted to the Greenland whales, and treats particularly of the migrations 
of Balena mysticetus in Davis Stra’. 
In a work called “ Newfoundland in 1842,” Sir Richard Bonnycastle devoted a 
chapter to cetaceans, in which he calls attention to the whale fishery carried on 
there, and notes various cetaceans he has observed about the island. The article 
is unfortunately largely taken up by citations from Scoresby, Dewhurst, and other 
authors, and it is not always clear whether the statements made are based on 
Bonnycastle’s own observations or derived from the works mentioned. Deprived 
of extraneous matter, the article, in so far as it relates to baleen whales, amounts 
to this — that Sir Arthur saw a “ B. acuto-rostrata, or sharp-nosed whale,” within a 
day’s sail of St. John in 1840; that the commonest species in Newfoundland waters, 
as he believes, is the “ B. jubartes, or pike-headed finner,” with a dorsal fin 24 feet 
high, and which feeds upon capelin, etce.; that whales of various sizes and kinds 
are common in the St. Lawrence, about Gaspé, and on the Labrador coast; that he 
repeatedly saw a “black and grey” whale in the Bay of Seven Islands, St. Lawrence 
River, in 1831; that on the 23d of July, 1840, at the entrance to Conception Bay, 
Newfoundland, he saw a “pipe-headed whale” about twenty-five feet long, with a 
brown back and white belly; that on July 24, 1840, he saw “ whales innumerable ” 
in Conception Bay and continued to see some of them all the way to St. John’s.® 
‘ ESCHRICHT og REINHARDT, Om Nordhvalen. Dansk. Vid. Sels. Skrif., 5, 1861, 433-589. 
Translation in Ray Society Publications, under the title of “ Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea.” 
Edited by Sir Wm. H. Flower. 
* Escuricut, D. F., Sur une nouvelle Méthode de l’Etude des Cétacés. Comptes Rendus Acad. 
Sct. Paris, 47, 1858, pp. 51-60. 
*Escuricut, D. F., Om de nordiske Hvaldyrs geographiske Udbredelse i nerverende og i 
tidligere Tid. Forhandl. Skand. Naturforsk. 5te Méde, 1849, pp. 103-118, pl. 1. 
*Escuricut, D. F., Recherches sur la Distribution des Cétacés dans les Mers Boréales. Ann. 
Set. Mat., Zool., 1, 1864, pp. 201-224. 
* BonnycastLe, A., Newfoundland in 1842, 1, pp. 239-255. 
