NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 271 
different from—in fact, so coulrary to—those of almost all other 
whales, that further knowledge of its nomadic, but doubtless 
systematic roamings would be very interesting. 
“Jt is remarkable,” says Mr. Lee, “that whilst other roving 
whales, like the migratory birds, seek a warmer temperature in 
lower latitudes on the approach of frost, the Beluga, on the con- 
trary, prefers to pass the coldest season amidst the ice and gloom 
of the Arctic Seas, and the hottest months of the year in com- 
paratively warm water and under sunny skies. It thus exhibits 
greater capability of enduring a considerable range of temperature 
than any other whale.” 
The skin of the Beluga is not invariably creamy white, like that 
of the specimens brought to England. Capt. Scoresby describes 
some which he saw as having been of a yellow colour approaching 
to orange, and others as tinged with a rosy hue. The young are 
bluish grey, sometimes mottled with brown spots. Like the 
Common Porpoise, it is far from being a timid animal, when not 
hunted and persecuted. “Schools” will often accompany a ship 
and gambol round it for days. The whalers, however, seldom 
interfere with them. It is difficult to strike them on account of 
their great activity, and if the skin is pierced it is so tender 
that the barbs generally draw out. Moreover, when the animal is 
secured, the blubber is not of sufficient value to pay the crew for 
their time, labour, and personal risk, 
The size to which this species attains has been much exaggerated. 
Lacepéde gives it a length of from twenty to twenty-three feet, but 
it probably or never exceeds sixteen feet. Mr. Lee states that 
the longest skeleton he knows of—that in the British Museum— 
measures only fifteen feet. The condition of the epiphyses of the 
bones in a skeleton of this whale twelve feet six inches long, in the 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, shows that ossification 
was nearly complete, and therefore that the animal had all but 
reached its full growth. 
Mr. Lee has. been at some pains to trace the history, so far as 
known, of this singular animal, and has brought together some 
curious particulars concerning it. Amongst other things he states 
that it is erroneous to suppose that the conveyance of live Cetacea 
for long distances dates merely from the recent exhibition of 
specimens in this country and in America. Many persons, pro- 
bably, will be surprised to learn that in olden times it was not only 
