. The Bermuda islands. An account of their scenery, climate, productions, physiography, natural history and geology, with sketches of their discovery and early history, and the changes in their flora and fauna due to man. Natural history. 276 A. E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. b.—The Fin-hack Whale. [Balcenoptera, sp.) It is asserted by those formerly conversant with the whale fishery, that a true Fin-back was sometimes seen, but that it was danger- ously pugnacious, and therefore was not attacked. Which species this ma}^ have been is quite uncertain, but it may well have been B. 2yhysalus L.
. The Bermuda islands. An account of their scenery, climate, productions, physiography, natural history and geology, with sketches of their discovery and early history, and the changes in their flora and fauna due to man. Natural history. 276 A. E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. b.—The Fin-hack Whale. [Balcenoptera, sp.) It is asserted by those formerly conversant with the whale fishery, that a true Fin-back was sometimes seen, but that it was danger- ously pugnacious, and therefore was not attacked. Which species this ma}^ have been is quite uncertain, but it may well have been B. 2yhysalus L. (See iig. 44a.) c.—The Cape Whale ; Black Whale; Biscay Bight Whale. (Balcena glacialis Bonnaterre = ^. cisarctica.) Figure 45. This whale, which rather closely resembles the true Right Whale or Bow-head of the Arctic Ocean, and has often been mistaken for it, is found on both sides of the Atlantic, in temperate latitudes, entirely south of the range of the Bow-head, which is strictly con- fined to the arctic seas. It has, apparently, never been common at the Bermudas, occurring there at long intervals, irregularly and in small numbers, though it was doubtless more common in early times than now, but the early records are usually not explicit enough to distinguish it from the Hump-back. It is a shorter and thicker species, with a stout, bluff head, and no dorsal fin. The slabs of whalebone are much more valuable, and are often 6 to 8 feet Figure 44a.—Fin-back {B. physalus). Figure 45.—The Biscay Eight Whale or Cape Whale. I have learned from Mr. Hayward of St. David's Island, who for- merly engaged in the whale fishery, that these whales were occasion- ally taken, but were always comparatively rare. He also states that one was taken in Castle Harbor, in 1*792, which is the only known instance of a whale being taken in the enclosed bays of the islands. Mayor J, M. Hayward, of St. George's, tells me that a pair of them were taken about 1840. But I have not been a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1902
