The most complete and scientific work on cetology, is undoubtedly the Histoirr Xiturelle des Cetaces of La Ce pede, published at Paris in 4to in the year 1801, (12th year of the republic.) John 1 hinter had given the best ac count of the anatomy and physiology of these animals, in the 77th volume of the Philosophical Transactions ; and Bonnaterre had described, in a masterly manner, their natural history, in that department of the Encyclopedic Methodigne allotted to ; but it was reserved for La Cep6de to bring together every thing valuable that had been written on the subject ; to reduce it to form and method ; and improve the whole by systematic ar rangement, and animated description. lie has distribut ed the thirty-four species (or varieties) of cetacta which he describes, into two orders, the toothless and the tooth ed. Of the former, he makes NO tribes and eight spe ies; Of the hatter, eight tribes and twentt -six Opel ley. II Is (lit kiwi of the genera, of %vhit hi we shall say mole pre .entiv, is co rtainlv more at ornate and scientific than of any of his rsorx, iu slu,ne h as it is 'Omaha' on anatomical differenet s ; and though his generic and ,pe cilic :111! ()hen inince,essa•lly and circumstances that are impli«I no the preceding charao ters of the order, or the genus, they are more acenrate and more descriptive than those of any other author NS ith Wh011i NA r are These are tl.t• principal writers on zoology who have treated 011 cetaccous animals ; but there arc several on the productions of particular countries, which contain useful or curious information on the same sub ject. Of these, we shall notice a few of the most re spectable, and tints conclude our historical sketch of cc tological writers.
Among the earliest of these is the History of Iceland, drawn up by John Anderson, a German naturalist of con siderable reputation. Ile has described t.cycral species that were little known before his time, particularly the ordrancr, or I cclancl whale, the knobbe fish, or scrag whale, and the Jupiter fish, or pike-headed whale : and he has inteispersed some amusing- particulars respecting their mantels, and the methods employed by the !ee l:aide:is in taking them, though these latter cannot always be received with implicit credit.
Frederic Martens, another German, published an ac count of Spit:berg-en and the neighbouring arctic regions, which is frequently referred to by Pennant and other zoological writers, particularly as containing the best account of the gibbar, or, fin-fish, and the butskopf, or beaked whale.
About the middle of the eighteenth century, John Egedc, a Danish missionary, who had passed many years in Greenland, successfully labouring for the conversion of the natives, and who had acquired a thorough acquaint ance with the productions of the country, and the man ners of the inhabitants, published his Description cf Greenland, which was speedily translated into English, and published in Byo, with tolerable plates, in 1743. This work contains an account of the black or Greenland whale, the fin fish, and the narwhal, or unicorn fish, which, though not very particular, is more to he relied on than that of his predecessors.
The History of Greenland, in two volumes, published in German by David Crantz, a missionary of the United Brethren, in 1765, and translated into English in 1767, gives the best account of the natural history of those fro zen regions. This account is confined chiefly to the first volume, te hich contains de seriptions of 1 ( etaceous animals. Only t%o of tilt se, I oe,, 1, the white fish awl the porp•b8c., are describe 1 Gorn tl e an thol's own obser, talons ; the account of tho rt tit copied 11,111 LIMB'S Spitz/urger:, Ander on's Ireland, and similar et (,I1,s of estahli died reputation.
lu 1751, Uch Pootoppidan, hishop of •ro in pub lished, in the Danish language, his Natural History fl Norway, of uh it.l, NI English translation app: is( (I at London in 17 The second part of thi work i (,( voted chi( fly to zoology, and contains ne i.y oilars respecting so,in• of thY (r t seta, as the hual or '111.0 t v. halt', the 7Whoenialtd, or beak d whale, tl r narwhal, or sea unicorn, and the ntravol, or porpesse. I I is a( ( out• of tic great whale i, very minute, and tolerably aeLtin. t( , though, like most of the good hishop's relationa, it some times savours too much of the mart el Ions to be r( (Tit cd without limitations. His description of a bland( r be neath the back bone, by means of tellich the wfa he rend( r, himself more or less buoyant ; and his act ( nut of t1 " terrible roar" sent forth by this animal who 11 bitten by the speekhuggeren, (gladiators.' w.wn reody to from repletion alter a full meal of he ri . ;.r( erro neous. I I is figures a re worse than his de. c n s ; for by way of representing the Greenland wh: lc, he it es a bad figure of the cachalot, and his figure of the nay a hal has the body spirally twisted as well as the horn.
Among the British •auna., we may particularly notice Dale's History of Harwich, Borlasc's History of Corn wall, with two works of our contemporaries, Neill's Tour to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and Fleming's Xatural I-listory of the Zetland Islands. The former of these two last works contains the distinguishing marks of a species or variety of the dolphin tribe, called by the Scottish islanders the ca'ing whale, and the latter notices the several species of cetaccous animals that have ap pea•ed on the sheres of Zetland. Fleming has also given an excellent account of a speck s of 1:2.r•hal in the Memoirs of the IFernerian ./Vatn•al Ths'cry Society of Edinburgh.
In the which we are lucre to give of cctaccous animals, we shall first describe their general structure and economy, and shall often% arch give a comprehensil C iew of each tribe, and of the more important specks, distinguishing whatever is inns: remarkable in what is called their natural history, including their form, size, proportions, and colour ; the particular situations where they are most generally found; their manners and way of life; the enemies to which they are most frequently ex posed; and the uses to which Muir spoils lime been ap plied by their most powerful enemy, man.