Among the naturalists of the 17th century, we may mention three of our countrymen of distinguished emi nence in most branches of the science,—Willughby, Ray, and Sibbald. Mr Willughby's work, De Historia Piscium, edited by his friend Ray, contains many valua ble remarks on cetaceous animals, especially on the great whale, the dolphin, the noillesse, and the grampus. This learned writer was one of the first to mark distinct ly, the similarity of anatomical structure in whales and quadrupeds.
Ray, in his Synopsis Piscium, follows his predecessors in natural history, in the error of including cetacca among fishes, though lie seems to be among the first that have doubted of its propriety. His reasons for this arrange ment, from which we infer his hesitation, are, that the form of their bodies agrees with that of fish ; that they arc entirely naked, or covered only with a smooth skin ; and that they live entirely in the water, and have all the actions of fish. Now, in this last circumstance, our dis tinguished naturalist is mistaken ; and, as he found their mode ofrcspiration formed to his arrangement an objec tion not easily to be overcome, he divides fishes into those that breathe by lungs (pulmone respirantes,) and those that breathe by gills (bronchus respirantes); thus esta blishing the former of these sections, for the purpose of including the cetaccous animals. The number of spe ( its enumerated by Ray is consKerable, and lie has no ticed al most all those which have occasionally been thrown on the coasts of our islands.
The first work of any distinguished eminence as a se parate treatise on cetaceous animals, is the Phalainologia Vova of Sir Robert Sibbald, lint publishcd at Edinburgh in 1692, and reprinted in London so lately as 1773. In this work, the writer professes to describe the rarer spe cies of whales that had been cast on the shores of Scot land, distinguishing them according to their natural cha racters into genera and species, and adding sonic o user. vations on the nature, origin, and use of spermaceti and ambergris. Considering the time at which this was writ ten, it is a valuable work, containing accurate descrip tions, and, in general, judicious remarks. It first treats of whales in general, then distinguishes these into such as have teeth in both jaws, such as have teeth only in the lower jaw, and such as want teeth altogether, the proper Balance. He particularly describes the graninus; the small
spermaceti whale, or round-headed cachalot ; the black headed spermaceti whale, or great-headed cachalot; the high „finned cachalot of Pennant; the common or Greenland whale; the pike-headed whale ; and the round-lipped whale.
As far as Sir Robert depends on his own observations, we believe ltc is in general perk ctly correct ; and his work must be considered as one of the best treatises on cctology, and far superior to any thing that appeared on the subject for nearly 100 years afterwards.
Early in the 18th century, Artedi, the friend and com panion of Lime, composed his Synopsis Pisciunz, into which he has introduced the cetaceous animals as an or der of fishes, and where lie has distinguished a greater number of species than had been enumerated before. His specific characters are, in general, highly expres sive, and very accurate, though, in describing the gram pus as having broad serrated teeth, (dentibus Intl& ser ratis,) a mistake into which Linne has also fallen, lie seems to have copied the erroneous account of Rondelet.
Among the last writers who have considered the ce tacea as an order of fishes, is Mr Pennant, who in the third volume of his British Zoology, describes twelve species of these animals as his first division of fishes, under the title of cetaccous fish. His principal reason for this arrangement is, that in this way we preserve en tire the chain of beings, since as the seals and manati re semble quadrupeds in the structure of their fore feet, and fishes in the structure of their tail, so cetaceous ani mals resemble the manati in the former circumstance, and, still more than they, resemble fishes in the form of their body, and structure of their tail. Pennant has bor rowed much of his information from Sir Robert Sibbald's work, and has also gleaned freely both from the ancients, and from some modern histories and voyages, as Dale's .4ccoz:nt of Harwich ; Marten's History of Spitzbergen ; Cratitz's Greenland ; and Borlase's 4ccount of Cornwall. In one instance, the blunt-headed cachalot, he seems to have described entirely from his own observation, and has given a figure of the animal and its teeth.