THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE AV^ESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 55 



the Cape of Good Hope and of Greenland.' He concludes that tliey represent two 

 very distinct s[)ecies. The figures and much of the matter of this aiticle were after- 

 wards re-pul)lifshed in his Histoire Naturelle des Cetaccs. In 1868, Van Beueden 

 pul)lishe<l an essay on the geographical distril)ution of tlie Right whales,^ accom- 

 panied l»y a chart on which are I'epresented the distril)ution areas of the various 

 species of Bald'iia. Tlie chait shows tlie range of J3. hiscayensis as extendiu"- to 

 the east coast of the United States. (See p. 50.) 



Dr. Gi*ay published'* criticisms of Van Beneden's map, contending that it was 

 based on insufKcient material and thus of no profit to science. In sustaining this 

 contention he referred to most of the earlier Ameiican observations, includino- those 

 of Dudley, Maury, Cope, etc., and commented on them at some length. In the same 

 year, 1868, Van Beneden I'eplied to the criticisms of Gi'ay. One of the points 

 involved is the relation of B. biscayensis to B. cisarctica. Regarding this Van 

 Beneden remarks : 



'•But the most important (juestiou, and that on which Dr. Gray and myself are 

 not in accord, is that of knowing whether the Balcena biscayensis is the same as 

 that which Piofessor E. D. Cope has made known undei' tlie name of Bahtna cis- 

 arctica., from a skeleton preserved in the Phihide][>hia museum. Di'. Gray savs 

 'Certainly not'; I, on the contrary, think it is. . . . Tlie reasons on wliich 

 Dr. Gi'ay depends in saying 'Certainly not,' are, in my opinion, far fi'om having the 

 importance which he would accord them. These reasons are: That the Bahtna 

 cisarctica has 14 paii's of ribs and that the first is not bifid, — it is singleheaded." 

 Van Beneden's conclusion is : "We shall continue to regard the Balcena cisarctica 

 of Professor Cope as being a synonym of Balanm biscayensis^ * 



The monumental work of Van Beneden and Gervais on the Osteography of 

 the Cetacea,'^ (text dated 1880, but began to appear in 1868), is based chiefly on Old- 

 World material and observations, but some American specimens are mentioned and 

 descri))ed and the species established by American zoologists are briefly discussed. 

 The eai'-bone of a specimen of Balcena cisarctica Cope is described and figui'ed. 

 Reference is made to the occuri'ence of several skeletons of Megajptera from Green- 

 land in Eui'opean museums, and the figures of the skeleton of M. longiniana ai'e 

 probably from this material, though it is not exi)licitly so stated. The same is 

 true of the desciiption and of a part of the figures of B. acuto-rostrata. A brief com- 

 parison is made between the various nominal species of baleen whales established 



' Van Beneden, P.-J., Le Rorqual du cap de Bonne-Esperance et le K^porkak des Groen- 

 landais. Bull. Acad. Ji. Belg. (2), 18, 1S64, p. 389. 



' Van Beneden, P.-J., Les Baleines et leur Distribution Geographique. Bull. Acad. H. Belg. 

 (2), 25, 1868, pp. 9-21. 



" On the Geographical Distribution of xhsBalcenida, or Right Whales. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 (4), I, 1S68, p. 242; also (4), 6, 1870, pp. 193-204. 



' Van Beneden, P.-J., La Premiere Cote des Cetac(;s. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. (2), 26, 1868, 



pp. 7-16, pis. 1-2. 



' Van Beneden, P.-J., and Gervais, P., Ost^ographie des C^tacds, vivants et fossiles. Atlas, 

 1868-1879. Text, 1880. 



