MO. 1103. NOMKNCLA TURE OF THE WHALEBONE WHALES— TRUE. 629 



au(l white on the belly, while Collett, Cocks, and others who have had 

 abundant opportunities to study this species, describe it as "grayish 

 8late,'N)r brownish, on the back. .Sibl>akl's specimen, liowever, had 

 been dead for at least a day when he saw it, and it is well known that 

 in cetaceans of all kinds giays rapidly turn to bhuik alter lite is extinct. 



Taking into consideration all the facts incsented, there is ap[)arently 

 little reason for doubt that Sibl>ald's 8p<K'inien was an immature com- 

 mon tinback. At all events, the description tallies much more closely 

 with that species than any of the other whalebone whales known to 

 fre(|ncnt l^nroi)can waters. This being giantcd, it is obvious that Lin- 

 na'us's name, hoops, wlii(;h is based entirely on Sibbald's d(!scription 

 and the later paraphrases of it by other authors, must be regarded as 

 one of the specific apjx'llations of the common (inback, and, as such, a 

 synonym of Linna'us's^>////.sa///.s.' 



ICuroi)ean authors, beginning with Rudolphi,^ have been disposed to 

 regard Linna'us's species, hoops, as representing the hum|)ba(;k (Ma/ap- 

 tero), but it is entirely certain that the name can not be applied to any 

 species of that genus. 



3. BALiENA MUSCULUS. 



The last of Linnaius's species of whalebone whales is lialwna muscnlus. 

 His diagnosis is as follows: " li, Jistula duplici in f route, mcuHla infe- 

 riore viulto hdiore.''' ("A whale with a double blowhole in the lore- 

 head, and with the lower jaw much the wider.") 



His only comments are: " Lives in the Scotch sea'' and " piovi<led 

 this is sufliciently distinct from Mysticetus; Mns. Ad. Fr., T)!, nhould be 

 com|)arcd." 



lie cites three works, whi(;h will be (umsideied in turn. The first is: 

 "Art. gen. 78"_ ARTEDI, Genera Piscium, 1738, p. 78. 



The diagnosis here given is the same as that of Linmcus, the latter 

 having coi)ie<l it verl)atim. Art<Mli also cit(^s " Kay." i)agc 17, and adds 

 the following remarks: " It was cast up on the southern shore of the 

 Firth of Forth in the month of September, 1692. Length, 78 feet. 

 Lower Jaw the wider and of a scmi<!ircular form. RIowliolc pyramidal 

 in form and divided with a septum toward the forehead. For the rest, 

 see Sibbald." 



These statements show conclusively that Artedi has taken his infor- 

 mation from Sibbald, who, as we shall see presently, described a whale 

 cast up on the shore of the Firth of Forth in this month and year. 



'SibbiiM publislicd a fij^urc of his Hpecimon in tlio Plialainologia, jd i, hut an, liko 

 other fi;>nre8 ou the Hanio work, it is obvioiiHiy iiiaccurato, it can not bo iiscil in a 

 critical examination of Hpeeion. 



■^Abhandl. K. Akad. VViaseusch. IJiirlin, 1H2!), p. \'X\, plH. 1-5. 



