52 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



stranded at Godhavn, Greenland, in IS-iS. He discusses Moller's data and describes 

 and fio-uies one of the pectoi'al fins of this specimen which was sent to him, and 

 connects the species with Holboll's " Kepokainak " and the Ostend Finback of 1827. 

 He sums up the whole section as follows : That it is demonstrated that there are 

 at least three different species of Finbacks in the northern seas : (1st) " In the long- 

 handed group, the Greenland ' Keporkak,' B. longimana ; in the short-handed, (2d) 

 the Norwegian ' Vaagehval,' B. minor, and (3d) the common, large short-handed Fin- 

 back, B. hoaps^ That there are as good as certain (4th) a special large, short-handed 

 species, B. muscidus, and at least highly probable (5th) the Greenland " Ke[)okar- 

 nak," and not improbable (6th) the Greenland "Tikagulik" or B. rodrata Fabr., 

 distinct from the Norwegian " Vaagehval." Finally, Eschricht passes in review all 

 the principal observations on the geographical distribution of these supposed species, 

 including Holboll's Greenland researches, and the early accounts concerning the 

 Bermudas in the Philompliieal Transactions. 



Essay 6. — Results of a journey through northwestern Europe in the summer 

 of 184-6, as a supplement to the preceding treatises. 



This essay is divided into three sections, one on the Beaked whales, anothei- 

 on the Humpbacks, and a third, on short-handed, or true, Finbacks. Eschricht 

 visited several of the more important museums of Europe, notably those of London, 

 Paris, and Berlin, and examined many of the skeletons described by other authors, 

 including the type of Megaptera longimana, and other very important specimens. 

 He not only comments on these, but reviews and revises his earlier observations, 

 and this essay may be considered as embodying his final views regarding the species 

 of Humpbacks and Finbacks. The [)aper is of much impoitance in the present con- 

 nection, as the Gieenland sj>ecies aie commented u^ion no less than the European 

 ones, and at this time Eschricht had made actual comparisons of specimens of both. 



As ab'eady stated, Eschricht became apprehensive that his work would not 

 receive the attention it deserved, on account of its publication in Danish, and hence 

 resolved to republish it in German.' The German edition, he tells us, is not to be 

 regaided as a translation, but as a new working over of the whole material, with a 

 more orderly presentation of data and conclusions. Certain it is that the two 

 editions differ widely, and much that is in the Danish is not in the German. This 

 is due in part to the fact that the latter was never completed. Only the first 

 volume of the three which Eschricht planned was completed as he intended. The 

 second, fourth, and fifth Danish essays are the ones most nearly reproduced in the 

 German edition. 



In the latter, as in the former, the principal data of importance in the present 

 connection are the descriptions of the Finbacks and Humpbacks of Greenland, and 

 the opinions of Eschricht based on his comparisons of Greenland and Eui'opean 

 specimens of these whales. In addition to Eschricht's own researches, translations 

 are given of two communications of Holboll on Greenland baleen whales, and one 

 by Motzfeldt relating in [)art to the same subject. 



' Eschricht, D. F., Zoologisch-anatomisch-physiologische Untersuchungen liber die nordischen 

 Wallthiere, ite Band, Leipzig, 1849. 



