1864.] MR. A. NEWTON ON THE ZOOLOGY OF SPITSBERGEN. 501 
responsibility of taking the yacht further north than Ice Fjord; and 
accordingly, after having to steer considerably to the westward to 
avoid the heavy ice which beset the coast about Horn Sound, we found 
ourselves, on the afternoon of the 14th, once more at our old anchor- 
age in Safe Haven. Here we remained another week, most of our 
party finding plenty of occupation in deer-stalking; but I was not 
able to add much to my stock of zoological knowledge. The Deer 
were now in magnificent condition, and nineteen were shot, making, 
with those obtained the week the yacht was there in July, a total 
of forty-seven. On the night of the 17th the salt water of the Haven 
was frozen over, and two days afterwards the sun set. On the 
morning of the 21st we weighed anchor, homeward bound. On the 
24th we spoke a Norwegian jeg¢, engaged in the fishing of Seymnus 
borealis, an example of which was hauled up just as we passed*. 
The same day we sighted Bear Island, which on our outward voy- 
age we had not seen, owing to the fog; and on the 27th we reached 
Hammerfest. 
it remains for me to add a few words on the Cetaceans we saw. I 
have already mentioned Beluga catodon, which we observed also on 
two other occasions. This is the only species of which I can speak 
definitely, though we certainly saw at least four others. Of these, the 
first was a large black fin-backed Whale, noticed three or four times ; 
the second a smaller animal, perhaps about thirty or forty feet 
long, of which some half a dozen came and played round the yacht on 
the 12th of August. In general form, especially in the esocine 
shape of the head, these corresponded very closely with the engraving 
given by Dr. Scoresby (Arctic Regions, vol. ii. pl. 13. f. 2) as that 
of Balena rostrata (=Balenoptera rostrata, J. E. Gray); but I 
rather hesitate to refer them positively to that species, on account 
of their colour, which was apparently of a uniform light reddish 
brown. I had an excellent opportunity of observing these Whales, 
for they kept with us about a quarter of an hour, sometimes passing 
under the ship, and often coming up close alongside, within perhaps 
thirty yards. On the following day I saw a school of Grampuses, 
with extremely long and high dorsal fins ; but this was the only oc- 
casion on which the species was noticed. Some kind of Porpoise, 
on the contrary, was seen more than oncef. In addition to these 
* This fishery has of late years assumed considerable importance. The vessels 
employed in it mostly do not go so far north, but keep about midway between 
Bear Island and the North Cape of Europe. There they anchor in deep water 
with a light cable, which they cut if it comes on to blow suddenly. The Sharks 
are caught with a baited hook at the end of a very long line. As soon as one is 
hooked, he is hauled up on deck by a windlass, and beaten on the head until he 
is motionless. His liver, which alone is required of him, is then cut out ; and, 
his entrails being fully inflated with air, his body is heaved overboard to float away 
quite clear of the vessel. The cause of this apparently wanton cruelty is alleged 
to be the difficulty of otherwise disposing of the carcase ; for the fishermen say 
that if the animal were killed, they would not catch another Shark until the dead 
one was entirely eaten up by his brethren, a process that might involve a delay 
of some days. 
+ | feel very confident of the truth of this statement; but I[ find no mention 
made of any Porpoise in the Spitsbergen ‘seas by either Scoresby or Malmgren. 
