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A. FE. Verrili— The Bermuda Islands. 684 
been studied by any zodlogist, so far as I can learn. Nor are there 
any complete descriptions of its external characters. There were 
doubtless two or three distinct species of whalebone whales taken 
or seen in former times. Of these the one called the Cape Whale 
by the fishermen was, without doubt, the Biscay Right Whale. It 
certainly was not the Greenland Right Whale, as Matthew Jones — 
supposed. The Biscay Whale was formerly common off the eastern 
coast of the United States, and is still occasionally seen there. 
Therefore it naturally would sometimes have visited the waters of 
Bermuda. 
The best local description of the common Bermuda Whale that I 
have seen was written by an anonymous writer to the Royal Society 
of London, and published in vol. i, p. 11, of their Transactions, in 
1665. This writer stated that several unsuccessful attempts had 
been made to take them that year, but without much success. Yet 
two adult females and three “cubs,” 25 to 30 feet long, were killed. 
One female was 60 feet long. The other was 88 feet long ;* tail 23 
feet ; swimming fin [flipper] 26 feet ; “gills” [baleen] 3 feet long. 
It had a dorsal fin on the hinder part of the back. The color was 
black above ; white beneath. The head was somewhat bluff. 
The presence of a dorsal fin, the blunt head, and the very long 
flippers show that this must have been the true Hump-back 
Whalet ( Wegaptera nodosa Bonnat.) of Europe and America. 
In a later letter, the same writer states (op. cit., li, p. 132) that in 
1666 sixteen whales had been taken, yielding 50 to 60 tuns of oil. 
He does not mention any difference. The small amount and. short- 
ness of the baleen was quite unlike that of the Biscay Whale. 
We can only judge of its abundance by the records of the amount 
of oil shipped, after the whale fishery was organized in 1665. Some 
data in regard to this early fishery have been given on a previous 
page (p. 521). Therefore it will be sufficient to add, in this place, 
the following records, which evidently refer mainly or entirely to the 
Hump-back, and supplement those given previously. 
* This is an unusually large size for a specimen of this whale, but the other 
measurements are in good proportions to the length. In more modern times, 
specimens of 50 feet in length were considered large. Mayor Hayward says he 
never knew of one over 60 feet. Mr. Hayward of St. David’s says 50 feet was 
the largest size, and that the average yield was 30 to 33 barrels of oil, very rarely 
70 barrels. This whale of 1665 must have been a giant specimen of its race. 
+ It has, however, received a special name (M. Americana Gray), based entirely 
on the above description. It is also identical with M. longimana, and with M. 
bellicosa Cope, of the West Indies, according to the determinations made by Dr. 
F. W. True. (See Science for May 2, 1902, p. 690.) 
