1868.J OF THE GREENLAND SEAS. 547 



part of Norway. Dr. Eschricht considered that this was the Whale 

 captured by the Basque whaler in the seventeenth century ; hence he 

 has called it Balcena biscayensis. A considerable portion of this 

 description corresponds with what I have said regarding the Spitz- 

 bergen Whales as a race. 



I have heard that "barnacles" had been got on Whales; but 

 these were looked upon as a sign of age in the Whale. It is now a 

 question to wliat species the Right Whales now and then stranded 

 on the European coasts are to be referred. What the " Scrag Whale" 

 of Dudley* {Balcena yibbosa, Erxl.) is I cannot imagine. It is not 

 now known to the whalers ; and as neither of the species referred to 

 have as yet been found in Davis Strait or Baffin's Bayt, they do 

 not come within the limits which I have assigned to myself. 



2. Physalus ANTiauoRUM, Gray. 



BalcByioptera musculus, Flem. Brit. An. p. 30. 

 Rorqualus tnusculus, F. Cuv. Cetaces, p. 334. 

 Balcena i^hysalus, Fab. Fauna Grcenl. p. 35. 



Popular names. — Big Finner, Razorback (English whalers) ; 

 Sillhval (Swedish) ; Sildror, R'Oren (Norse) ; Sildreki (Icelandic) ; 

 Tunnolik (Greenlanders). 



This species, in common with most of the family Balcenopteridce, 

 does not go far nortb as a rule, but keeps about the Cod-banks of 

 Rifkol, Holsteensborg, and other localities in South Greenland J. 

 They feed upon Cod and other fish, which they devour in immense 

 quantities. Desmoulins§ mentions 600 being taken out of the sto- 

 mach of one ; I know an instance in which 800 were found. They 

 often, in common with Balcenoptera gigas and B. rostrata, wander 

 into the European seas in pursuit of Cod and Herrings, and are 

 quite abundant in the vicinity of Rockal. A few years ago much 

 excitement was got up about the number of "Whales" found in that 

 locality, and companies were started to kill them, supposing them 

 to be the Right Whale of commerce. As might have been expected, 

 they proved only to be " Finners," which prey on the immense quan- 

 tities of Cod which are found there. This Whale is accounted almost 

 worthless by the whalers ; and, on account of the small quantity of 

 oil which it yields and the difficulty of capture, it is never attacked 

 unless by mistake or through ignorance. I remember seeing one 

 floating dead in Davis Strait, to which the men rowed, taking it for 

 a Right Whale ; but on discovering their mistake they immediately 

 abandoned it. They had apparently not been the first ; for on its 

 sides were cut the names of several vessels which had paid it a visit 



* Phil. Trans, vol. xxxiii. p. 259. 



t Crantz's description of the Knotenfisch, or Knobbelfisch (Greenland, vol. i. 

 p. 146), is not derived from his own knowledge, but, like most of his descrip- 

 tions, is copied from previous authors. 



\ I am aware that this statement is somewhat at variance with Dr. Eschricht's, 

 as contained in his paper on the " Geographical Distribution of some of the 

 Northern Whales" (Forh. Skand. Naturf. Kjob. 1847, p. 103); nevertheless I 

 think that it will be found to be substantially correct. 



§ Hamilton on Whales (Jardine's Nat. Lib ). 



