OCR Text |
Show 1868.] OF THE GREENLAND SEAS. 547 part of Norway. Dr. Eschricht considered that this was the Whale captured by the Basque whaler in the seventeenth century ; hence he has called it Baleena biscayensis. A considerable portion of this description corresponds with what I have said regarding the Spitzbergen Whales as a race. I have heard that "barnacles" had been got on Whales; but these were looked upon as a sign of age in the Whale. It is now a question to what species the Right Whales now and then stranded on the European coasts are to be referred. What the " Scrag Whale" of Dudley* (Baleena gibbosa, Erxl.) is I cannot imagine. It is not now known to the whalers; and as neither of the species referred to have as yet been found in Davis Strait or Baffin's Bayf, they do not come within the limits which I have assigned to myself. 2. PHYSALUS ANTIQUORUM, Gray. Balcenoptera musculus, Flem. Brit. An. p. 30. Rorcpualus musculus, F. Cuv. Cetaces, p. 334. Baleena physalus, Fab. Fauna Grcenl. p. 35. Popular names.-Big Finner, Razorback (English whalers); Sillhval (Swedish) ; Sildror, R'oren (Norse) ; Sildreki (Icelandic) ; Tunnolik (Greenlanders). This species, in common with most of the family Baleenopteridee, does not go far north as a rule, but keeps about the Cod-banks of Rifkol, Holsteensborg, and other localities in South Greenland %. They feed upon Cod and other fish, which they devour in immense quantities. Desmoulins § mentions 600 being taken out of the stomach of one; I know an instance in which 800 were found. They often, in common with Balcenoptera gigas and B. rostrata, wander into the European seas in pursuit of Cod and Herrings, and are quite abundant in the vicinity of Rockal. A few years ago much excitement was got up about the number of " Whales" found in that locality, and companies were started to kill them, supposing them to be the Right Whale of commerce. As might have been expected, they proved only to be " Finners," which prey on the immense quantities of Cod which are found there. This Whale is accounted almost worthless by the whalers; and, on account of the small quantity of oil which it yields and the difficulty of capture, it is never attacked unless by mistake or through ignorance. I remember seeing one floating dead in Davis Strait, to which the men rowed, taking it for a Right Whale ; but on discovering their mistake they immediately abandoned it. They had apparently not been the first; for on its sides were cut the names of several vessels which had paid it a visit * Phil. Trans, vol. xxxiii. p. 259. t Crantz's description of the Knotenfisch, or Knobbelfisch (Greenland, vol. i. p. 146), is not derived from his own knowledge, but, like most of his descriptions, is copied from previous authors. | I a m aware that this statement is somewhat at variance with Dr. Eschricht's, as contained in his paper on the " Geographical Distribution of some of the Northern Whales" (Forh. Skand. Naturf. Kjiib. 1847, p. 103); nevertheless I think that it will be found to be substantially correct. § Hamilton on Whales (Jardine's Nat. Lib ). |