And scarce could live a Twelve month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend),
A little Fish, that, swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar.”
But we have only spoken of a very few varieties of Whales; some yet remain, which may be styled “fancy” Whales. At all events, they are lost to our times. Herodotus tells us that in the Borysthenes (Dneiper) were “large whales without any spinal bones, which they call Antacæi, fit for salting.” Then, Gesner gives us varieties of Whales, of which we know nothing. There is the bearded and maned creature with a face somewhat resembling that of a human being, found only in the remotest North, and there is the hairy whale, Cetum Capillatum vel Crinitum, or Germanice, Haarwal, but no particulars of this curious creature are given.
He presents us with the image of a Cetacean, which he calls an Indian Serpent—but he evidently is so doubtful of the creature’s authenticity that he tells us that Hieronimus Cardanus sent it formerly to him. He cannot quite make it out, with its monkey’s head, and
paws, but points out that it must be an aquatic animal, because of its tail.
