12 



CETACEANS. 



distinct names, it is, on the whole, probable that all these indicate only local races 

 of a single widespread species, which may be known as the southern right- whale 

 (B. australis). This species differs from the last by its relatively smaller head, 

 in which the contour of the lower lip is much more highly arched, and the baleen 

 considerably shorter ; while the number of ribs is fifteen in place of twelve. It is 

 also of smaller size and yields less blubber. In its movements this whale is said 

 to be quicker, more active, and more violent than the other, and is thus more 

 difficult and dangerous to kill. In the North Atlantic it was still not unfrequent 

 in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and ranged as far north as Iceland 

 and Norway; but it is now all but exterminated in these regions. Several 

 instances of whales, probably belonging to this species, having been seen or 

 captured off the British Coasts previous to the commencement of the present 

 century are on record ; and it is highly probable that whales seen off Peterhead in 

 1806 and 1872 were likewise of the same kind. An example was captured in the 

 harbour of San Sebastian in 1854, a second in the Gulf of Taranto in 1877, and 

 a third on the Spanish Coast in the following year. The practical extermination 

 of this species in European waters, appears to be due to the Basque fishermen of 

 the Biscayan ports, by whom it was persistently hunted from the tenth to the 

 sixteenth century. It was known to them as the sletbag, and had become exceed- 

 ingly scarce on the discovery of Spitzbergen in 1596, when the Basque whalers 

 turned their attention to the far more valuable Greenland species. 



On the western side of the Atlantic, where it is known as the black whale, 

 examples are occasionally met with. In the North Pacific it occurs in Japanese 

 waters ; and it likewise frequents the Australian and New Zealand seas, as well 

 as the regions around the Cape of Good Hope. The southern limits of the 

 southern right- whale are not yet definitely known, but the species certainly does 

 not penetrate the icebound Antarctic Ocean. 



Fossil Right- Several species of right-whales have left their remains in the 



Whales. Pliocene deposits of Belgium and the east coast of England. One of 



these extinct forms appears to have been allied to the Greenland, and a second 



to the southern whales, while the other two are smaller species unlike any 



now living. 



THE PIGMY WHALE. 

 Genus Neobalcena. 



A rare whale (Neobalcena marginata), from the New Zealand, Australian, and 

 South American seas, is the smallest representative of the family, and while most 

 nearly allied to the right- whales, presents certain peculiarities in structure which 

 entitle it to rank as the representative of a distinct genus. It derives its common 

 name of pigmy whale from its comparatively small size, the length never exceeding 

 20 feet, and being sometimes only 15 or 16 feet. Although agreeing with the 

 right-whales in having the skin of the throat smooth, and all the vertebrae of the 

 neck united into a solid mass, the pigmy whale differs by having a small fin on the 

 back, by the baleen, which is of great length and slenderness, being white, and also 

 by the small and narrow flipper containing but three digits in its skeleton. The 



