THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 45 



Methodique in 1789. 1 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 Balwna. The species 

 are as follows : 



1. B. mysticetm. " 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 Pages. 



2. B.glacialis. "The Nordcaper." (P. 3.) 



" Inhabits the northern seas, about Norway and Iceland." 



3. B.pliysalus. "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, Linna3us, 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.) 

 " Inhabits 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 B. mysticetus, while the latter calls it meagre (B. 

 macro). 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 macro,. 



1 BONNATERRE, Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique des Trois Regnes de la Nature 

 Cetologie. Paris, 1789. 4. 



