55 
on 
THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC, 
the Cape of Good Hope and of Greenland.’ He concludes that they represent two 
very distinct species. The figures and much of the matter of this article were after- 
wards re-published in his Histoire Naturelle des Cétacés. In 1868, Van Beneden 
published an essay on the geographical distribution of the Right whales,’ accom- 
panied by a chart on which are represented the distribution areas of the various 
species of alana. The chart shows the range of B. biscayensis as extending to 
the east coast of the United States. (See p. 56.) 
Dr. Gray published * criticisms of Van Beneden’s map, contending that it was 
based on insufficient material and thus of no profit to science. In sustaining this 
contention he referred to most of the earlier American observations, including those 
of Dudley, Maury, Cope, etc., and commented on them at some length. In the same 
year, 1865, Van Beneden replied to the criticisms of Gray. One of the points 
involved is the relation of B. biscayensis to LB. cisarctica. Regarding this Van 
Beneden remarks : 
“ But the most important question, and that on which Dr. Gray and myself are 
not in accord, is that of knowing whether the Lalena biscayensis is the same as 
that which Enotteecan E. D. Cope “has made known under the name of Balena cis- 
arctica, from a skeleton preserved in the Philadelphia museum. Dr. Gray says 
‘Certainly not’; I, on the contrary, think it is. . . . The reasons on which 
Dr. Gray depends i in saying ‘ Certainly not,’ are, in my opinion, far from having the 
importance which he would accord them. These reasons are: That the Balena 
cisarctica has 14 pairs of ribs and that the first is not bifid—it is singleheaded.” 
Van Beneden’s conclusion is: “ We shall continue to regard the Balena cisarctica 
of Professor Cope as being a synonym of Balena biscayensis.” ' 
The monumental work of Van Beneden and Gervais on the Osteography of 
the Cetacea,’ (text dated 1880, but began to appear in 1868), is based chiefly on Old- 
World material and observations, but some American specimens are mentioned and 
described and the species established by American zodlogists are briefly discussed. 
The ear-bone of a specimen of Lalena cisarctica Cope is described and figured. 
Reference is made to the occurrence of several skeletons of Megaptera from Green- 
land in European museums, and the figures of the skeleton of J/. longimana are 
probably from this material, though it is not explicitly so stated. The same is 
true of the description and of a part of the figures of B. acuto-rostrata. A brief com- 
parison is made between the various nominal species of baleen whales established 
"Van BENEDEN, P.—J., Le Rorqual du cap de Bonne-Espérance et le Képorkak des Groen- 
landais. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. (2), 18, 1864, p. 389. 
* Van BENEDEN, P.—J., Les Baleines et leur Distribution Géographique. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. 
(2), 25, 1868, pp. 9-21. 
* On the Geographical Distribution of the Ba/enide, or Right Whales. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 
(4), 1, 1868, p. 242; also (4), 6, 1870, pp. 193-204. 
“Van BENEDEN, P.—J., La Premiére Céte des Cétacés. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. (2), 26, 1868, 
pp. 7-16, pls. 1-2. 
* Van BeNeDeEN, P.-J., and Gervais, P., Ostéographie des Cétacés, vivants et fossiles. Atlas, 
1868-1879. Text, 1880. 
