294 FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [24] 



{Balcena biscayensis) which had frequented their coast from time imme- 

 morial ; but that this species had become nearly extinct in the seven- 

 teenth century, and that the last capture made by the Basque fisher- 

 men was on February 11, 1 878, when a whale appeared off the coast 

 between Guetaria and Zarauz. In the early part of the seventeenth 

 century the English, Dutch, and several other contemporary European 

 nations devoted their attention to the " whale," or Greenland whale, 

 known to the scientific men of that age as Balcena mysticetus, a species 

 of great commercial value on account of its oil and baleen. These early 

 whalemen also made occasional captures of the sea-horse, or morse (the 

 common walrus, Rosmarus obesus (Illig.), Gill, and rarely of the Beluga. 

 Nantucket, at one time the leading whaling port of the world, paid exclu- 

 sive attention to the capture of the sperm whale {Physeter macrocephalus), 

 whose habitat is in the warmer seas; and shortly afterwards England 

 sent vessels to engage in this fishery. " The sperm whale or nothing," 

 seems to have been the motto of Nantucket, as none of her vessels 

 would lower their boats for the right whale until it was too late to 

 rectify her error. New Bedford also inaugurated her fishery on the 

 same plan of operation, but since the decrease in value of sperm oil 

 her vessels have willingly captured the two species of the right whale 

 {Eubalmna cullamach (Chamisso) Cope, of the Pacific, and Eubakena 

 cisarctica, Cope, of the Atlantic), and the bowhead whale {Balcena mys- 

 ticetus, Linn.), as well as humpbacks and gray whales, of which fur- 

 ther mention will be made. The sulphur-bottom whales {Sibbaldius sul- 

 fureus and S. borealis) are seldom captured, owing to their remarkable shy- 

 ness and swiftness. The California gray whale (Bhachianectes glaums), 

 ranging from the Arctic seas to Lower California, is captured by vessels 

 at sea, by whalemen who establish stations on the California coast, as 

 well as by the the Indians of Cape Flattery. The humpback whales 

 {Megaptera versabilis, Cope, and M. Osphyia, Cope), frequent all oceans 

 and are also captured. One species of this family {Osphyia), occasion- 

 ally appears on the Cape Cod coast, following the herring inshore, and 

 other small fish upon which it largely feeds. The finback whale of the 

 Pacific (Balcenoptera velifera, Cope), like the sulphur-bottom, is remark- 

 able for its swiftness, and is therefore difficult of capture. The two At- 

 lantic finbacks {Sibbaldius tectirostris Cope, and 8. tuberosis, Cope), fre- 

 quent the Cape Cod coast at certain seasons, and are captured by shore 

 whalemen. 



As is well known, Physeter macrocephalus, aside from the oil found in 

 its blubber, furnishes the spermaceti, which at one time yielded hand- 

 some financial profits. But at present the demand for this product is 

 limited, spermaceti having been supplanted by cheaper and better sub- 

 stitutes. This species also affords ivory and the valuable ambergris. 



The right whales, so called, are now the principal objects of pursuit. 

 Besides their oil they yield the whalebone of commerce, which, not- 

 withstanding the numerous substitutes that have been introduced into 



