62 
Zoology. 
facts in the case, but I venture to say that the Eskimos cannot kill 
the musk-oxen easier than they do the reindeer. The latter animals 
are very numerous, although they have been hunted by the Eskimos 
for many years in the same localities where the musk-ox has now totally 
disappeared. Perhaps the disappearance of the musk-ox can be 
accounted for by its competition with the reindeer for the scarce 
vegetation, which is barely sufficient to supply one large herbivorous 
animal with food. The explanation of the fact is, in any case, very 
difficult, and in trying to solve this problem, as well as the one I men- 
tioned regarding the polar-bear, I think we have to count with factors 
not yet appreciated by former authors, and still fully unknown. 
11. Balcenoptera musculus. — During our stay at Godhavn on 
the northward trip, the Eskimos sighted far out to sea the floating 
body of a big whale. Then ‘ ^Falcon ’ ’ steamed out and brought the 
carcass into the harbor. It belonged to the above species. North 
from Disco Island I did not observe any right, or fin-whales, but on 
my return to Denmark, I saw fin- whales several times ; the determi- 
nation of the species being impossible, it is unnecessary to enumerate 
the localities. 
12. Hyperoodon rostratus. — When cruising in the east Green- 
land pack-ice off Fredrikshaab I saw some bottlenoses among the ice. 
As I have intimated once before,^ this whale and, probably, all the 
others except a very few, are not dependent in their distribution on 
the temperature of the water, as formerly was believed by many 
authors. In Baffin Bay or Smith Sound we did not observe the 
bottlenose. 
1 3. Beluga leucas. ‘ ‘ Kaja-gaktoo ’ ’ (Esk. ). — The white whales 
seem to be very numerous in Inglefield Gulf and on the Greenland 
side of Baflin Bay. Many times, when trying to get through the ice 
in Murchison Sound and Bowdoin Bay, we had the opportunity to 
observe great schools, containing sometimes as many as a hundred 
individuals, swimming and blowing quite near the vessel. The 
weather being fine, I observed during one week of August nearly 
every evening the “white fishes” approaching the shore. Young and 
old were always going in the same school. I never heard any 
sounds from it, a characteristic noted by some authors. 
14. Monodon MONOCEROS. “ Kell-el-looah ” (Esk.).— I believe 
the narwhal is also very abundant in Smith Sound and the ‘ ‘ north- 
» Ohlia. “ Some Remarks on the Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon),” in Kongl. Fysiogra* 
fiska Sailskapcts i Lund Handlingar, Bd. 4, Lund, 1893, p. 6. 
