1. bal.t;na. 89 



of teeth in the lower jaw in the place of the baleen, and with a small 

 dorsal on its back, again appears in Dnhamel (iv. t. 9. f. 2), under 

 the name of " Baleine en Guinee," from the Eiver Gaboon, where, 

 he says, it is called Grampus by the English. 



2. Balsena Biscayensis. 



Baleine de Biseaye, Van Bcnedcn, Bull. Acad. Roy. Belgique, 1861, 462. 



Balsena Biscayensis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, 200. 



Baleine franche du golfe deHiscnye, BschHcIit, Cotnptes Re)idus,\SQO ; 



Actes de la Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, 1. 13. 4'' livr. 

 Baliena Eubalaena Biscayensis, Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, 391. 



Inhab. Bay of Biscay, St. Sebastian. A female and its young, 

 Jan. 18G0. Skeleton at the Museum of Pampeluna. 



The Right Whale of the Bay of Biscay (B. Biscayensis) is regarded 

 as a different species by Eschricht and Van Beneden. — Gray, F.Z.S. 

 1864, 200. 



Cuvier observes that the Bight Whale was formerly taken in the 

 Gulf of Gascony, but that now it is only found on the shores of 

 Greenland, Iceland, and Spitzbergen. (See Cuv. Oss. Eoss. ed. 4. vii. 

 252 ; also Eschr. & Reinh. Nord. Hvaler, p. 479, note.) 



" MM. Eschricht and Reinhardt (Om Nordhvalen) have conclu- 

 sively proved that the habitat oi B. 3Iysticetus is, and always has been, 

 exclusively confined to the Polar Seas, and therefore that it has no 

 claim to a place in the European fauna. The Right Whale of the 

 North Atlantic, formerly chased by the Basque whalers, belongs to 

 this section (Euhalama) of the family."— Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, 391. 



M. Eschricht observes, " Le squelette de Pampelune m'occupe tout 

 plein, m'ecrit-il a la date du 18 mai dernier. C'est tout ce qu'il y a 

 de plus curieux. II est presque monte, et I'enorme difference avec 

 le Mysticetus depasse tout ce que j'cn avals juge lors de mon sejour a 

 Pampelune. Eigiu-ez-vous, ajoute-t-il, qu'il n'est pas plus developpe 

 que le squelette d'un Mysticetus de peine un an, I'ossification des 

 vei'tebres n'est pas encore avancce jusqu'aux apophyses transverses, 

 et les arcs qui ne sont pas meme unis des deux cotes sont encore 

 separes du corps et cependant la colonne vertebrale a la largeur du 

 Mysticetus de trois ans et demi." (See also Eschricht " Sur le De- 

 veloppement du questionnaire relative aux Cetaces," Actes de la Soc. 

 Liiin. de Bordeaux, xxii. Hvr. 4.) 



This theoiy appears to require further examination. Icebergs are 

 annually carried out from the Arctic Seas to the North Atlantic, and 

 it is probable that Right A\Tiales may sometimes accompany them. 



I have not been able to find any details of the skeleton at Pam- 

 peluna, so that I have no authority for placing B. Biscayensis in a 

 different genus from B. Mysticetus. 



