56 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
by European and American authors, and opinions expressed as to their identity. 
The text concludes with the chart previously mentioned, on which is indicated the 
distribution of species of Galena in North American waters. The portion of this 
work relating to the genus Balena having been finished by 1870, Dr. J. E. Gray 
took occasion to criticise it severely,' and in the course of his remarks touched upon 
certain American species. He refers to the objections which have been made to his 
own method of treating species and higher groups, and cites arguments sustaining 
his position. He criticises the chart showing geographical distribution, above men- 
tioned, and comments on the meagreness of the material on which Van Beneden 
and Gervais based conclusions in some instances. He gives a list of North Atlan- 
tie species of Lalena which he considers valid, and mentions the species of the 
North Pacific which have received names. Much of the criticism contained in this 
paper was doubtless just or at least useful, but later studies have not on the whole 
sustained Gray’s contentions regarding species and other matters. The American 
species cited are those of Cope, both Atlantic and Pacific, special mention being 
made of Balena cisarctica, Agaphelus gibbosus, and Rhachianectes glaucus. 
In the same year Van Beneden replied to the criticisms of Gray on the 
Balenide of the Ostéographie des Cétacés” and in that connection made the 
following remarks regarding American material : 
“This whale [ Nordeaper] which was hunted in the English Channel was the 
first destroyed, and if by hazard it presents itself still in Europe, it is always in the 
middle of winter. It was in February, 1854, that the last one made its appearance. 
We cannot say positively at what time of the year the whale which Prof. A. 
Agassiz has prepared for the Cambridge museum was captured, but we have 
reason to believe it was in summer. . . . We shall have therefore for this 
second species, as for the first [. mysticetus], fixed winter and summer stations. 
: The whale captured on the coast of America and to which Prof. Cope has 
given the name of Balena cisarctica is, we believe, the same which formerly 
made its regular winter station in Europe. Dr. Gray ‘does not share this opinion. 
To solve this interesting question directly by observation we addressed ourselves 
to Prof. Cope, who has kindly sent us from Philadelphia one of the ear-bones of 
his new species. We requested Prof. Reinhardt, of Copenhagen, to compare this 
ear-bone with that of the skeleton from Pampelune in his museum, the only one 
actually known in Europe. Although the first bone belongs to an adult and the 
second to a young animal, which renders comparison difficult, it is, however, evident, 
according to Prof. Reinhardt, that there is nothing which would lead one to suppose 
that the bones belonged to distinet species.’ 
Van Beneden closes with four theses, of which three are as follows: 
a) “There exist two species of true whales (Right whales) in the North 
Atlantic and on the coasts of Greenland,—one the common whale, called also the 
Greenland whale, and the other the Sarde or Nordcaper. 
‘Gray, J. E., Observations on the Whales described in the Ostéographie des Cétacés of MM. 
Van Beneden and Gervais. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 6, 1870, pp. 193-204. 
*Van BENEDEN, P.—J., Observations sur l’Ostéographie des Cétacés. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. 
(2), 30, 1870, pp. 380-388. 
