Note 2228 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.

As already mentioned, there is considerable doubt what fish of the whale species is meant under this name. Cuvier says, that even at the present day whales are occasionally found in the Mediterranean, and says that there is the head of one in the Museum of Natural History, that was thrown ashore at Martigues. He also observes, that in the year 1829, one had been cast upon the coasts of Languedoc. Ajasson suggests, that not improbably whales once frequented the Mediterranean in great numbers, but that as commerce increased, they gradually retreated to the open ocean.