226 



CURIOUS CREATURES. 



And scarce could live a Twelve month to an end, 

 But for the little Musculus (his friend), 

 A little Fish, that, swimming still before, 

 Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar." 



But we have only spoken of a very few varieties of 

 Whales ; some yet remain, which may be styled " fancy " 

 Whales. At all events, they are lost to our times. Herodo- 

 tus tells us that in the 

 Borysthenes (Dneiper) 

 were " large whales 

 without any spinal 

 bones, which they 

 call Antacaei, fit for 

 salting." Then, 

 Gesner gives us varie- 

 ties of Whales, of 

 which we know no- 

 thing. There is the 

 bearded and maned 

 creature with a face 

 somewhat resem- 

 bling that of a human 

 being, found only in 

 the remotest North, 

 ~ and there is the hairy 

 whale, Cetum Capillatunt vl Crinitum, or Germanice, 

 Haarwal, but no particulars of this curious creature 

 are given. 



He presents us with the image of a Cetacean, which 

 he calls an Indian Serpent but he evidently is so 

 doubtful of the creature's authenticity that he tells us 

 that Hieronimus Cardanus sent it formerly to him. He 

 cannot quite make it out, with its monkey's head, and 



