XII. A NOTE ON THE SKELETONS OF 

 BALAENOPTERA EDEN I, ANDERSON, 

 IN THE INDIAN MUSEUM, CALCUTTA. 



By Roy Chapman Andrews, A.M., Associate Curator of Mammals, 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



(With Plate XV.) 



In 1871 a whale was stranded m an inlet off the Gull" of Maitaban. 

 The skull and a portion of the skeleton were recovered and deposited 

 in the Indian Museum where they were sulisequently examined by Dr. 

 John Anderson and described by him under the name Balaenojdera 

 edeni^. 



Since Dr. Anderson's paper there has been no critical study of this 

 skeleton until my monograph- published in March, 1916, where it was 

 considered in relation to Balaenoptera horealis, Lesson, which had been 

 discovered in the Pacific Ocean in 1910. 



After a detailed discussion of Anderson's account, I concluded my 

 remarks upon the species in the following v/ords : " While from the 

 foregoing discussion of B. edeni it is evident that this species is either 

 identical with, or closely allied to, B. horealis, I feel that without further 

 information no positive assertions can be made regarding it. The 

 characters of the skull and atlas which have already been pointed out are 

 certainly of importance and to my mind cannot be disregarded or ex- 

 plained upon the grounds of individual variation. Since Dr. Anderson 

 especially noted them from the specimen itself it would appear that 

 they have not been exaggerated in the published figures. It is highly 

 desirable that this skeleton be reexamined in the light of present know- 

 ledge of the large Cetacea, but until this is done, or other specimens have 

 been obtained from the same waters, it appears to me that it is wisest 

 to leave Balaenoptera edeni as a very doubtfully established species. 



" It is especially unfortunate that Mr. Orjan Olsen, who has recently 

 described Balaenoptera hrydei from South African waters, did not furnish 

 osteological details with his external descriptions. Further information 

 regarding both these whales will be awaited with interest since it is not 

 improbable that the two may prove identical, or both the synonyms 

 of B. horealis. At present, however, the wisest course is to leave them 

 as they are " {I. c, p. 378). 



In July, 1917, while en route to New York after a year of zoological 

 exploration in Yun-nan province, China, I reached Calcutta and 



^ Anatomical and Zoological Researches : comprising an account of the Zoological 

 Results of the Two Expeditions to Western Yunnan in 1S08 and 1875. London, 1878, 

 pp. 551-564, pi. xliv. 



* Monographs of the Pacific Cetacea. II, — The Sei Whale {Balaenoptera borealis. 

 Lesson). Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. New Scries, Vol. I, 

 Part VI, March 1916, pp. 376-378. 



