22 CHTACEA. " 
— 
guage on the subject, in ‘Transactions of the Danish Academy” 
for 1845-46, has kindly translated for me the following passage 
in his last published paper, as the result of his examinations up ~ 
to that time :— Sf 
“ Of all that has been communicated in this chapter, it appears: 
to me to be proved, that amongst the Fin Whales, at least three 
different species have their abode in the Northern Seas :— 
“I. In the Group of the Longimana. 
“1, The Greenland Keporkak. B. Boops, O. Fab. B. longi- 
mana, Rudolphi. 
* Tl. In that of the Short-handed. 
* 2. The Norwegian Vaaga kval, B. minor; and 
“3. The common great short-handed, B. Boops. 
““'To be almost proved that besides there exists, q 
“4thly, A peculiar large short-handed species, the Baleno 7 
pterus Musculus. 
* And, at least, it is highly probable, that— q 
“ dSthly, The Greenlandian Kepokartrak is the representative 
of a particular form; and even that— 3 
* 6thly, The Greenlandian Tikagalk or Balena rostrata, 0. 
Fab., may be a different species from the Norwegian ‘ Vaagek-_ 
val.’ 2 Huchvioht. 4th Mem. p. 157. 
In the Appendix to the ‘ Zoology of the Erebus and Terror,’ from 
observation made during the progress of the work through the 
press, I remarked, “‘ The account of the genus Balenoptera, m the 
former part of this essay, was only derived from the examination — 
of a single specimen, and the comparison of the descriptions and 
remarks of preceding authors. Since that time, by the examina- 
tion of Professor Eschricht’s paper, and from personal communi- ~ 
cation with him, and the examination of the several skeletons of 
this genus, in different collections, I am satisfied that there are 
several distinct species which may be thus distinguished.” a 
The examination of the proportions pointed out by the tables 
above quoted, and the measurement of other specimens, all of. 
which I drew from scale on paper, have shown that they were 
permanent, and to be considered as specific or generic distine- 
tions rather than variations m the growth of the same species, 
and these distinctions were further proved by the exammation — 
of the skeletons; for it was found that the bones of the neck of 
the small species, which had been considered to be the young 
of the larger ones, were anchylosed together, while those of the” 
larger ones were free; and it also showed that the form of the 
lateral process of the nuchal vertebra was the same in specimens — 
of different sizes from the same locality, showimg that the strue- 
