REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 633 
naturalist who combines with his scientific knowledge the experi- 
ence of a whaleman could even hope to give more than a very in- 
adequate account of the habits of these ‘monsters of the deep.” 
The immense size of many of the larger Cetacea, and the great 
infrequency of opportunities of observing them stranded, or wholly 
removed from the water, render it very difficult to get either ac- 
curate figures of them or more than approximate measurements. 
Capt. Seammon seems to have enjoyed rare opportunities for col- 
lecting material for his book, and an excellent preparation for the 
task he has undertaken, for, besides his twenty years of personal 
experience and observation, he has availed himself of information 
acquired by other intelligent whalemen. Hence his biographies, 
Statistics of size, and his figures of the animals are far more satis- 
factory than anything that has previously appeared treating of the 
general history of these little known animals. Fourteen pages, 
for instance, are devoted to the California gray whale (Rhachi- 
anectes glaucus Cope) in which is detailed not only its habits and 
distribution, but the methods and dangers of its pursuit and cap- 
ture; the article being also illustrated with three lithographic 
tes. The bowhead or great polar whale (Balena mysticetus) 
Teceives an equally extended notice, this species being ‘by far the 
Most valuable in a commercial point of view of all the Balenide 
and is the chief object of pursuit by the whaleman in the northern 
w The yield of oil, in large individuals of this species, is 
Suid to exceed sometimes two hundred and seventy-five barrels, 
while the product of baleen may be upwards of three thousand 
five hundred pounds. The whaling grounds are described at 
» as is also what is termed “Bowhead Whaling.” Capt. 
Scammon considers it as conclusively proved that this species 
Passes from the Atlantic to the Pacific, “or rather,” as he expresses 
: 't, “from the Atlantic Arctic to the Pacific Aretic by the North,” 
o and believes that air-holes always exist in the ice which covers the 
=e waters, even in the coldest latitudes. About a dozen pages 
ate devoted to the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), and 
about five to the orca, or killer, which is, of all the Cetacea, the 
Most rapacious and terrible to the larger denizens of the sea. 
tn Part II the ground is less new, but here very material steel 
a aons are made to a better knowledge of several species of 
z larger Pinnipeds, especially of the sea elephants, sea lions, 
fur seals of the California coast, and also of the sea otter 
