74 WHALEBONE AND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



pteam whaling vessels, and the use of explosive harpoons, 

 having enabled the whalers easily to cope with the greater 

 ppeed of these cetaceans. At Hammerfest, a special 

 " fishery " has, indeed, been established for the capture of 

 rorquals, where the take of these animals is now large. 

 The products of these whales are, however, nothing like 

 the value of those of the Greenland species ; and if the 

 latter, together with the southern right whale, be so nearly 

 exterminated as to render pursuit no longer profitable, 

 <hft supply of long whalebone will absolutely come to an 

 end. 



Postscript. Since the foregoing was written, the author 

 lias discovered that certain fossil toothed whales from 

 Patagonia had their nasal bones nearly as well developed 

 as in the whalebone whales ; this discovery removing one 

 of the difficulties in regarding the latter as the descendants 

 of the former. 



