CETACEA. 03 



C^tac^s, Cuv. Tab. Mem. 1798 ; Duvernoy, Tab. Anim. Vert. 



Spiracules, J. Brookes, Cat. Mtis. 38, 1828. 



Bahenidee, RilppeU, Verz. Senck, Saminl. 186, 1845. 



Cetacea vera sen Cariiivora, Oiveu, Cat. Mas. Coll. Surg. ii. 439. 



Dr. Peters objects to the tail being considered the representative 

 of the hind feet of the Whale. He observes : " Prof. Reinhardt dis- 

 covered only a rudiment of a femur in Balcena Mysticetus, all other 

 [whales] having the pelvis without the vestiges of Hmbs. You know 

 very well that the horizontal tail-fin is only an expansion of the 

 soft parts. How did this expression escape you ? " — Letter, 24th 

 Nov. 18G4. 



I am stiU. not convinced that the tail does not represent the hiad 

 members, at least analogically if not actually. 



Belon and Rondelet appear to have known the Dolphin {Delphinus 

 Delphis), the 'Ondre' {D. Tursio), and the Phocsena (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 & 42) well figures 

 one of these specimens. 



In 1671, Martens, in his 'Voyage to Spitzbergen,' gave a descrip- 

 tion and figure of the Whalebone Whale, the " Fin-fish " (Balceno- 

 ptera Physalus), the Weise Fish (^Beluga Catodon), and the Butzkopt 

 (Orca Gladiator) ; and his figiu'es of the first and second have been 

 the chief authorities for these animals mitil this 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 : — T. The Small \\Tiales with teeth 

 in both jaws, of which he notices three— the Orca (0. Gladiator), 

 the Beluga, and one from hearsay, which from its size was probably 

 a Porpoise (Phoco'na vidgaris). II. The larger Whales with teetla 

 in the lower jaw: — 1. the Sperm Whale; and 2. the Black Fish. 

 And III. The Whalebone Whales, of which he describes three speci- 

 mens. The arrangement he proposed is the one used in this Catalogue ; 

 and his work forms the groundwork of all that was known on the 

 larger Cetacea up to the Linnean time : but Artedi and Linnaevis 

 committed the mistake of regarding individual peculiarities resulting 

 from accidental circumstances as specific distinctions, so that three 

 of their species have to be reduced to synonyma. [There is a later 

 edition, edited by Pennant, which appeared in Edinburgh in 1773.] 



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 Humpback Whale ; 

 and 5. the Spermaceti AMiale. Cuvier, in his historical account, 

 scarcely siifiiciently estimates either Sibbald' s or Dudley's contri- 

 bution. 



Bonnatcrre, and after him Laccjiede, in their Catalogues, collected 

 together vnth. great industry all the materials they could find, in 



