WITH THE WHALERS AT DURBAN. 211 



had taken a cow-whale in the act of parturition, and that the 

 young Whale taken from her, i. e. the Whale at birth, measured 

 sixteen feet and weighed two tons. The weight of a Whale is 

 computed at a foot to the ton ; a sixty-foot Whale would weigh 

 sixty tons. 



A Whale gives, on an average, forty-four barrels of oil ; each 

 barrel contains about three hundred and seventy-six pounds. 

 Last season's results : — 



Humpbacks: Oil, 2254 tons 12 cwt. 21 lb.; meat, 1696 tons 

 9 cwt. 22 lb. ; bone, 262 tons 8 cwt. 25 lb. ; " finners," 

 47,699 lb. 



Blue Whales : " Finners," 1174 lb. 



Two Right Whales : " Finners," 1470 lb. 



Nomenclature. 



I have found it a very interesting study to look up the mean- 

 ing of the terms used in the naming of the Whales. 



The order Cetacea, from the Greek hUtos, any "sea monster " 

 or " huge fish." 



Suborder Mystacoceti, from f^uara^, " the upper lip " or 

 " moustache." This is significant, if my deductions are correct, 

 and whoever was primarily responsible for the name had pro- 

 bably come to the same conclusion as myself regarding this part 

 of the Whale. The Mystacoceti signifies simply the Moustached 

 Whales or sea-monsters. 



Suborder Odontoceti ; the meaning, of course, is simple and 

 well known — odofc or 6Mv, 6}6vtos, " a tooth." The toothed sea- 

 monsters. 



Family Physitericlce, from tpiiaa., " a pair of bellows," or (puaaco, 

 " to blow or spurt out" ; and repas, repza, a " prodigy " or " mon- 

 ster." A prodigy of a sea-monster that spurts out (water?). 



Family Balcenidce, from the Latin word " balsena," signifying 

 simply a W T hale. This becomes a trifle mystifying when we 

 speak of a family of the Cetacea as the " Whales," when the 

 whole order is so understood. 



[An eye, a large piece of skin, a large shred of epidermis, 

 and a " finner " are being sent to the Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington.] 



