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ON THE CETACEOUS ANIMALS. 



It has been observed by Cuvier that the largest animals are most imperfectly known, arising from the impossi- 

 bility of bringing the specimens side by side, and carefully comparing them with each other. If this is true of 

 the land animals, it is particularly the case with the Whales, Dolphins, Bottlenoses, and other marine Mammalia, 

 which can only be seen at distant periods, and often under most unpromising circumstances. For though we may have 

 Elephants, Giraffes, Elands, &c. in our Zoological Gardens and Parks, there has no plan yet been discovered whereby 

 we could preserve alive, even for a short time, any of the gigantic Whales or Cachalots, or even of the Dolphins. 



Having been under the necessity of studying the subject for the purpose of putting into scientific order the mate- 

 rials brought home by this Expedition, and especially for the purpose of arranging and naming the extensive collection 

 of specimens of these animals, and their osseous remains, in the British Museum ; and thinking that I have been suc- 

 cessful in elucidating some few points which appear to have escaped the Cuviers, almost the only modern authors who 

 appear to have attempted an extensive and systematic examination of the subject, I have been induced to follow the plan 

 adopted in the Seals ; and throw the result of my labours into a synoptic revision of the species of the entire family. 



In this examination I hope I have been able to arrange the .species on more secure bases, and placed them together 

 in more natural groups, with definite characters ; but I make no doubt I have overlooked many things which I ought 

 to have observed, and left much for my successors to accomplish. 



I may add that our insular position, by enabling us more frequently to examine these animals, and the extensive 

 trade which we formerly carried on in them, have caused our writers to be better acquainted with them, and for us to 

 collect together a greater mass of their remains than our continental neighbours. 



Belon and Rondelet appear to have known the Dolphin [Delphinus Delphis), the 'Ondre' (D. Tursio), and the 

 Phocaena (P. vulgaris) ; but their account of the Spermaceti Whale is very indistinct. 



Clusius, in 1605, first described and figured the Sperm Whale in a recognizable manner, from two specimens thrown 

 on the coast of Holland in 1598 and 1601 ; and Johnston (t. 41 and 42) well figures one of these specimens. 



In 1671, Martens, in his ' Voyage to Spitzbergen,' gave a description and figure of the Whalebone Whale, the " Fin 

 Fish" (Balmnoptera Physalus), the Weise Fish [Beluga Catodon), and of the Botzkopt [Orca Gladiator): and his 

 figures of the first and second have been the chief authorities for these animals until our time. 



In 1692, Sibbald published a small quarto pamphlet, with three plates, describing the Whales which had come 

 under his observation. He divides them into three groups : — 1. The small Whales with teeth in both jaws, of which 

 he notices three :— the Orca (O. Gladiator), the Beluga, and one from hear-say, which, fi-om its size, was probably a 

 Porpesse [Phocana vulgaris). II. The larger Whales with teeth in both jaws : — 1, the Sperm Whale; and, 2, the 

 Black-fish. And III. The Whale-bone Whales, of which he describes three specimens. The anangement he pro- 

 posed is the one used in this paper; and his work forms the ground-work of all that was known on the larger 

 Cetacea up to the Linnaan time : but Artedi and Linnaeus committed the mistake of regarding individual peculi- 

 arities resulting from accidental circumstances as specific distinctions, so that three of their species have to be re- 

 duced to synonyraa. 



In 1725, Dudley, in the 'Philosophical Transactions' (No. 387), describes all the Whales now recognized by the 

 whalers, except the Black-fish ; viz., 1. The Right or Whalebone Whale. 2. The Scrag Whale. 3. The Fin-back 

 Whale. 4. Bunch or Hump-back Whale. And 5. The Spermaceti Whale. Cuvier, in his historical account, does 

 not I think sufficiently estimate either Sibbald's or Dudley's contribution. 



Bonnaterre, and after him Lacepede, in their Catalogues, collected together all the materials they could find, and 

 ransacked every work that came in their way ; and the latter especially formed a number of species on most insuf- 

 ficient authority : for example, making a genus on the otherwise good figure of the Sperm Whale figured by Anderson, 

 because the artist had placed the spout on the hinder part of the head ; and a division of a genus for the Fin-fish of 

 Martens, because he did not notice in his description or figure the fold on the belly. Yet the characters given by 



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