92 R. BROWN ON THE GET ACE A OF GREENLAND. 



declivis s. sursum repancla, desinens rostra attenuatiore ; sic 

 fronti anatis mollissimse iion absimilis,"), though seemingly con- 

 tradictory of the identity of the Globiocephalus svineval and 

 Delphinus tursio of O. Fabr., must in reality be received for 

 no more than it is worth. Cetological critics have received the 

 descriptions of Fabricius as if they were infallible, or superior to 

 those of any other author who has succeeded him. We know 

 that many of his descriptions of other animals, which ai-e well 

 known, were erroneous, and that few of those regarding which 

 there could be no mistake were altogether free from error ; there- 

 fore I cannot see why we should receive the others otherwise 

 than as approximately correct. Fabricius enjoyed during the 

 few years he passed in Greenland no better opportunities than 

 any other naturalist in that country at the present day. Many 

 of the animals which he describes are very rarely killed or seen 

 by the natives : and many of his descriptions bear on the face of 

 them the marks of having been derived from the natives' narration, 

 and not from actual specimens. Any one who has examined such 

 unwieldy animals as the Cetacea must know how difficult it is, 

 even under the most favourable circumstances, to arrive at anything 

 like an accurate idea of the animal the external appearance of 

 which we may be desirous of describing. - Therefore, as the 

 Greenlanders call this animal Nesernak, as the description does 

 not widely differ from the appearance of the Caaing Wliale, and 

 as Montagu's Delphinvs truncatus, with which it has been 

 supposed to be synonymous, has never been found in Davis Strait, 

 while the present species has, we are warranted in concluding, 

 with Dr. Reinhardt, that the synonymy given under this species 

 is correct. 



This Whale is not a regular visitor of Davis Strait or Baffin's 

 Bay, but is occasionally to be seen in droves in the summer time 

 along the whole coast of Danish Greenland. An excellent 

 account of this species is given by Turner and M'Bain, derived 

 from the examination of some individuals of a drove which came 

 into the Frith of Forth in the spring of 1867 (Journ. Anat. and 

 Phys. 1867, and Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin. 1866-67 ined.)* 



15. Hyperoodon butzkop, Lacep. 



Monodon spuriuSj O. Fab. Faun. Groenl. p. 31. no. 19. 



Chcenocetus rostratus (Miill.), Eschr. Undersog. over Hvaldyr. 

 4<ie Afh. 1845 ; Reinhardt, Till^eg til en Beskrev. af Gronland 

 (Rink), p. 11. 



* For the anatomy of this species, see Murie, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. viii., 

 p. 235. In the Zoological Society's "Proceedings" for 1853, p. 103, there 

 is a notice of a paper " On the capture of Delphmus orca in South Greenland," 

 by M. Rehiiller, in which it is said that the number taken at Westmanshavn 

 since 1843 was 2,200, whereas between 1819 and 1843 there were only 280. 

 This additional capture, amounting in the aggregate to the value of 4,000/. 

 sterling, was described as being due to the introduction of nets. Now there 

 is no such place as "Westmanshavn" in Greenland, and I question if 2,200 

 Orcas have ever been killed in Greenland since the beginning of time. 

 Apparently the notice refers to the capture of Globiocephalus in the Faroe 

 Islands. 



