38 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



observations make it certain that there is a ' Scrag ' Right whale in the North Pacific 

 which corresponds very nearly to that of the southern ocean." ' Macy, in his His- 

 tory of Nantucket, informs us that it was the appearance of "a whale of the kind 

 called Scragg" in the harbor there which led to the establishment of the whale 

 fishery on that island. 2 



From these three observations it is evident that the term "scrag" is regularly 

 included in the whaleman's vocabulary. That there is a separate species to which 

 the name applies is improbable, but it is still uncertain whether it merely character- 

 izes abnormal individuals of the various species of Right whales, or definite varieties 

 of one or more species of Right whales, or abnormal individuals of the large whales 

 generally. The word " scrag," of course, means emaciated, ill-favored, or rough and 

 crooked. Further reference to this subject will be made later on. 



In 1741, we have for the first time, in Klein's Historia Piscium, a summing 

 up by a systematist of the American observations prior to that date. His classifi- 

 cation is somewhat artificial and his nomenclature rather unsystematic. His synoptic 

 table, in so far as it applies to the large whales, is as follows 3 : 



( i. In Dorso laevi apinnes. 



I ( I. Edentulae < 2. In Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



Physeteres ] I Balaenae -j ( 3. In Dorso pinnatae. 



II. Dentatae f i. Dorso laevi apinnes. 



2. Dorso laevi pinnatae. 



3. Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



4. Dorso gibbo pinnatse. 



The various species enumerated are as follows : 



BAL/ENJE EDENTUL.S. 



In Dorso laevi apinnes. 



1. Balana vera Zorgdrageri. [ = Bowhead.] 



2. Balizna albicans; Weisfish Marlensii 6 Zorgdr. [ White whale.] 



3. Bal<zna glacialisj ita communiter: Eisfisch. 



a. Australis; Zud-Eisfisch; dorso valde depresso, Zorgdrageri. 



b. Occidentalis; West-Eisfisch; dorso minus depresso, Ejusdcm. 



c. Borealis; Nordkaper, Ejusdem. [= Atlantic Right whale.] 

 In Dorso gibbo apinnes. 



1. Gibbo unico prope caudam. Anglis : The Bunch or Humbak Whale . . . Fin- 



fisch. Vid. Transact. Phil. Vol. XXXIII. No. 387. P. 258. [ = Hump- 

 back whale of Dudley.] 



2. Gibbis vel Nodis sex. Balcena macra. Anglis: Scrag- Whale. . . . Phil. 



Trans., ibid. [ = Scrag whale of Dudley]. 

 In Dorso pinnatae. 



1. Ore Balance vulgaris, laminis corneis donato. 



a. Balsena edentula, corpoire strictiore, dorso pinnato Raji. Finfish Zorgdr. 



Physeter Gesn. Anglis. Finbak-Whale. . . . Phil. Trans, al. I. 

 [Includes the Finback of Dudley.] 



b. Jubartes; Balaena novae Angliae. [The Bermuda Humpback of the anony- 



mous writer in Philos. Trans., i, 1665, pp. 11-13.] 



2. Ore rostrato. [Not American.] 



1 SCAMMON, C. M., Marine Mammals, 1874, p. 67. 



1 MACY, O., History of Nantucket, 1835, p. 28. 



3 KLEIN, J. T., Historiae Piscium naturalis, pt. 2, 1741, pp. 9-16. 



