618 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxi. 



argue in favor of an earlier though less well founded name. By fall- 

 ing back at once to the earliest name that, under rules generally 

 accepted, can be adopted with any plausibility whatever, such discus- 

 sions are cut oil', and stability is on the whole promoted. 



It will be a fortunate day for zoology when the names of animals are 

 determined by common assent, without regard to history or recourse to 

 argument. 



No si)ecial originality is claimed for the conclusions reached in this 

 paper, some of which have been hinted at by Sir William Turner and 

 other cetologists. I believe, however, that the fact that the Linnwan 

 names for the finback whales are based exclusively on Martens's and 

 Sibbald's descriptions is now for the first time demonstrated. 



The Europeau species of whalebone whales (including the bowhead 

 among the number) now currently recognized are as follows: 



1. The bowhead, Greenland or Arctic right whale, known as Balcena 

 mysticetus. 



2. The black whale, nordcaper or Basque whale, known as Balcena 

 hiscayensis. 



3. The common finback or rorqual, known as Bakenoptera mvsculus. 



4. The blue whale, known as Bahvnoptera sibbaldii. 



5. Rudolplii's whale or rorqual, known as Bdlienoptera borealis. 



6. The little piked whale or lesser rorqual, known as Bakenoptera 

 rostrata. 



7. The humpback, known as Megaptera hoops or longimana. 



The species of whalebone whales described by Linuicus are as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Bakena Mysticetus. 



2. Bakvna I'hysalus. 



3. Bakvna Boops. 



4. Bakena MnscuJns. 



It is questionable how far Linnjeus was personally familiar with 

 specimens representing the species he described. 



He states in the Systema that he had access to the collections of 

 King Adolphus Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, Tessin's 

 and De Geer's museums, and the museums of the Upsala and Stock- 

 holm academies. There is no mention of specimens of cetaceans in 

 the catalogues of these collections published in Linnieus's time, with a 

 single exception. In the catalogue of the Adolphus Frederick Museum 

 (p. 51), he records a foetus of a whale under the name of Bakena f/ro'n- 

 kindica. It appears to be a Greenland whale, but as we shall presently 

 see, Linnaeus afterwards referred it to the finbacks. ' 



'Van Benedcn remarks of the bowhead and nordcaper: 



"Du Hamel, Linne, Pierre Camper, and, later Lacepedc have occupied themselves 

 successively with these giants of the sea; but Pierre Camper alone had in his hands 

 pieces of the true ' Baleine f raache' [Balania myaticetus] ; the others only knew them 

 from figures, or from the accounts of explorers." (Hist. Nat. des Cetacds des Mere 

 d'Europe, 1889, p. 52.) 



