CETACKA. 67 



reason, in the Paris and some other museums, they have prepared a 

 series of plaster models to illustrate the genera. 



When the larger kinds are cast ashore, they are seized by the 

 lord of the manor or some other person and sold for their blubber, 

 and their bones are often sold for manure ; or, from some difSculty 

 respecting the ownership, they are left to rot on the beach, as was 

 the ease with the skeleton of the Sperm "Whale cast ashore at Whit- 

 stable, Kent, and prepared by Mr. Gould for the Zoological Society 

 in 1829. 



The putrefying of the flesh and the preparing of the oil render a 

 stranded wliale l)j- no means a desirable neighbour ; so that it is not 

 to be wondered at that they are usually got rid of as soon as pos- 

 sible, and that the naturalist has seldom the opportunity of exami- 

 ning them even in England, where the means of travelling are easy 

 and rapid. 



Keceutly a new difficulty has arisen: agriculturists have found 

 that they are good manure, and as soon as any of them, especially of 

 the smaller kinds, are caught or thrown ashore, they are carried 

 inland and buried, as was the case with a school of BelpJiinus Orca 

 lately taken near Bridgewater. 



Yet they are objects 'of general interest; and when they are cast 

 ashore near populous places they are often shown for a time, and the 

 smaller species ai'e sometimes even earned far inland and exhibited ; 

 and the only chance that the zoologist has of examining fresh speci- 

 mens of these animals is to watch for their occurrence and hasten to 

 see them while they are in a more or less complete state. 



I am bj* no means convinced that all the species in the following 

 Synopsis are distinct. It is rather to be regarded as a collection of 

 the accounts of the Whales of diff'erent localities, derived from the 

 specimens and other materials at present at our command ; and I 

 have endeavoured to select from these soiu'ces what appeared to 

 afford the best characters for defining them, so as to furnish to those 

 naturalists who might enjoy the opportunity of observing the animals, 

 a short abstract of what has been observed with regard to them, and 

 a reference to where they may find a more detailed account of 

 each kind. I have been induced to adopt this course, as whenever 

 I have had the opportunity of examining and comparing the pro- 

 portions of the allied species from distant seas, and of comparing their 

 bones, they have invariably proved to be distinct, which leads me to 

 believe that many of the other species from diffei'ent seas, which 

 have been regarded as the same, will be found to be distinct, though 

 representatives of those found in other seas. 



f2 



