146 THE LESSER RORQUAL. 



esteemed delicacy of its flesh, yet the natives never 

 attempt to harpoon it. They wound it with their 

 darts and spears, and, after a fortunate hunt, hope 

 to discover it, dead and stranded. Its oil also is 

 regarded as peculiarly delicate, and is esteemed by 

 the Icelanders as an article of their Materia Medica. 



RORQUAL OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 



Rorqualus Australis, Cuvier Balsenoptera Australia, Lesson. 



As after our account of the Greenland whale we 

 added a few remarks concerning another rnysticetus, 

 which was an inhabitant of the southern seas, so 

 the only other existing species of rorqual we shall 

 here introduce to the notice of our readers, is one 

 which within these few years has been discovered 

 in the Southern Ocean, and ascertained to be a new 

 and distinct species. These discoveries recall to 

 mind an interesting remark of Buffon's, in which he 

 states, that every part of the globe, according to 

 its parallel of latitude, has animals peculiar to itself. 

 It is true, this law has not very frequently been 

 demonstrated in reference to the inhabitants of the 

 ocean, although it has been remarked that the 

 place of their habitation is to be reckoned, not by 

 the sea which they frequent, but rather by the 

 latitude ; and hence it is alleged, that the intertro- 



