134 



mother is so manifested as to bring it almost certainly within the 

 reach of the whaler. Hence, though the cub is of little value, it is 

 often struck as a snare for the mother." 



" There is something extremely painful in the destruction of a whale, 

 when thus evincing a degree of affectionate regard for its offspring 

 which would do honour to the superior intelligence of human beings ; 

 "yet," continues this otherwise humane writer, "the object of the 

 adventure, the value of the prize, the joy of the capture, cannot be 

 sacrificed to feelings of compassion." 



Captain Scoresby, the able writer of the preceding paragraphs, and 

 a practical and successful whaler, killed during twenty-eight voyages, 

 no less than 498 whales, from whom he obtained 4,246 tons of oil and 

 a large supply of whalebone ; these together, realized a little over 

 150,000 sterling. 



From 1814 to 1817, a period of great activity among whalers of all 

 nations, the British alone captured in Greenlarid and Davis' Straits, 

 5,030 adults of this species, omitting of course the enumeration of the 

 many helpless young, valueless, save as a lure for the destruction of 

 their dams. This great and indiscriminate slaughter soon caused these 

 localities, then crowded with these valuable animals, to be fished out, 

 and the trade destroyed. 



Genus EUBAL^NA/ Gray. 



Baleen thick, moderately long, broad at the base; enamel thin; 

 fringe arranged in several layers, coarse and rigid ; head about one- 

 fourth of the entire length of the body ; nasal bones short and broad. 



ETJBALJ3NA 1 BiscAYENSis, Eschricht. The Bay of Biscay Whale. 



Synonyms Baleine franche du golf de liscaye, Eschricht. 

 Baleine de biscaye, Yan Beneden. 

 Balcena biscayensis, Gray, S. & W., p. 89. 

 Eubalcsna biscayensis, Flower. 

 Hunterius biscayensis, Gray, Suppl., p. 44. 

 Balcena cisarctica, Cope. 



This whale is of similar bulk to the Balsena mysticetus, but differs 

 from it by the head being much smaller in proportion to the size of the 

 body ; by the baleen being shorter, more brittle, and thicker in sub- 

 stance ; and by the habitat, that of the temperate regions of the North 

 Atlantic, between the latitudes of 40 and 65. 



The skin alsais said to be smoother, thicker, and of a bluish colour. 



1 ev, perfect, and bal&na, 



