The Whale; the Greenland Whale; the Black Whale; the Great Whale; the True Whale; the Right Whale.  鲸;格陵兰鲸;黑鲸;大鲸;真鲸;露脊鲸。

There is a deal of obscurity concerning the Identity of the species thus multitudinously baptized.  名目这么繁多,对于这种鲸的身份,就未免很不明确了。

What then is the whale, which I include in the second species of my Folios?  那么,我把它包括在我的对开型的第二类的这种鲸,究竟是一种什么鲸呢?

It is the Great Mysticetus of the English naturalists; the Greenland Whale of the English Whalemen; the Baliene Ordinaire of the French whalemen; the Growlands Walfish of the Swedes.  这就是英国的博物学家们所称的大须类鲸;英国的捕鲸者称为格陵兰鲸;法国的捕鲸者称为巴利安。奥第奈尔;瑞典人称为格罗兰。娃鱼的一种鲸。

It is the whale which for more than two centuries past has been hunted by the Dutch and English in the Arctic seas;  这就是过去二百多年来,荷兰和英国的捕鲸者在北极海上所追捕的一种鲸;

it is the whale which the American fishermen have long pursued in the Indian ocean, on the Brazil Banks, on the Nor' West Coast, and various other parts of the world, designated by them Right Whale Cruising Grounds. 这就是美国的捕鲸者在印度洋,在巴西沿海,在西北沿海一带以及其它那些被称为"露脊鲸巡游场"的世界各处所长期猎逐的一种鲸。

Some pretend to see a difference between the Greenland whale of the English and the right whale of the Americans.  有人想在英国的格陵兰鲸和美国的露脊鲸间找到一种区别来。

But they precisely agree in all their grand features; nor has there yet been presented a single determinate fact upon which to ground a radical distinction.  但是,他们却正好在它们一切大特点上获得一致的意见,而且迄今还提不出一点能起决定作用的事实,来做为这两者间的截然不同的证据。

It is by endless subdivisions based upon the most inconclusive differences, that some departments of natural history become so repellingly intricate.  正由于根据这种最不得要领的差别而来的无穷无尽的细分,这才把博物学史的若干部门弄得这样纠缠不清。

The right whale will be elsewhere treated of at some length, with reference to elucidating the sperm whale. 关于露脊鲸的问题,将在阐明抹香鲸的过程中,略为附带论及。

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER III. (Fin-Back). 第一篇(对开型)　第三章(脊鳍鲸)