CHAPTER X. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
The conclusions reached in the foregoing pages are : 
(1) That the species of whalebone whales occurring in the western North 
Atlantic Ocean are identical with those occurring in the eastern North Atlantic. 
(2) That these species are the Bowhgad, or Greenland Right whale, Balena 
mysticetus, the Black whale, Balena glacialis, the Humpback, Megaptera nodosa, the 
Sulphurbottom, Balenoptera musculus, the common Finback, Balenoptera physalus, 
and the Little Piked whale, Balwnoptera acuto-rostrata, and probably the Pollack 
whale, Balenoptera borealis. 
(3) That the range of one of these whales—the Humpback—extends south- 
ward at least as far as 18° North Lat. 
(4) That the probability of the identity of the North Pacific species with 
those of the North Atlantic is strengthened by the evidence herein collected. 
As modifications of the preceding statements, several particulars require to be 
brought forward. Both the Little Piked whale and the Humpback of Greenland 
may possibly possess characters entitling them to be regarded as separate sub- 
species. These differences, however, are quite as likely to be due to inaccuracy of 
observation. As the species are migratory, it is probable that the Greenland indi- 
viduals mingle with individuals from farther south and are identical with them 
both specifically and subspecifically, but additional evidence is needed to prove 
this hypothesis. 
As no specimens of the Pollack whale, Balawnoptera borealis, from American 
waters have been examined, it is not certain that the species is really the same on 
both sides of the Atlantic. As the other species are the same, the presumption is, 
of course, that the Pollack whale also undergoes no modification. This, however, 
requires to be demonstrated. 
As evidence is strengthened regarding the specific identity of the whales of 
the North Atlantic and North Pacific, the belief that the same species of large 
whales range all over the globe is, of course, also strengthened. It is well-known 
that whales closely resembling Megaptera nodosa, B. acuto-rostrata, B. musculus, and 
B. physalus—to mention no others—occur in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic 
seas, and also—the second and last, at least—about New Zealand. 
Some competent zodlogists have expressed the opinion that the species are 
cosmopolitan, but as already said in the case of the North American species, such 
opinions have not been based to any large extent on the critical examination of 
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