From having the baleen in his mouth, the Finback is sometimes included with the right whale, among a theoretic species denominated Whalebone whales , that is, whales with baleen.
Of these so called Whalebone whales, there would seem to be several varieties, most of which, however, are little known.
Broad-nosed whales and beaked whales; pike-headed whales; bunched whales; under-jawed whales and rostrated whales, are the fishermen’s names for a few sorts.
In connection with this appellative of “Whalebone whales,” it is of great importance to mention, that however such a nomenclature may be convenient in facilitating allusions to some kind of whales, yet it is in vain to attempt a clear classification of the Leviathan, founded upon either his baleen, or hump, or fin, or teeth; notwithstanding that those marked parts or features very obviously seem better adapted to afford the basis for a regular system of Cetology than any other detached bodily distinctions, which the whale, in his kinds, presents. How then? The baleen, hump, back-fin, and teeth; these are things whose peculiarities are indiscriminately dispersed among all sorts of whales, without any regard to what may be the nature of their structure in other and more essential particulars. * Thus, the sperm whale and the humpbacked whale, each has a hump; but there the similitude ceases. * Then, this same humpbacked whale and the Greenland whale, each of these has baleen; but there again the