328 Prof. J. Reinhardt on the Fin- Whale 
might possibly be a third similar species; but even then it 
would not be certain that the Icelandic whale is a new spe- 
cies; for there is a fin-whale (the Balenoptera Sibbaldit, Gray) 
different from the Ostend whale, and which Malm supposes to 
be also different from the species described by him, of the ex- 
ternal characters of which we know nothing, and it is possible 
that the ‘ Steypireydr” may be this very species. 
Fortunately, however, we know more than the mere ex- 
ternal characters of the “ Steypireydr”’; for Mr. Hallas has 
presented the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen with the 
hyoid bone and the first cervical vertebra of a male ‘ Steypi- 
reydr” nearly 74 Danish feet long; the Museum has, further, 
purchased of the Danish Fishing Company the skull of the 
same individual, wanting only the lower jaw; finally, we have 
from a third source received trustworthy information about the 
number of the ribs and the vertebrae: and thus we are in pos- 
session of most of the data required to clear away that uncer- 
tainty and doubt which could not be removed while we had 
only the description of the colour and the measurements. 
have its place, and the name Svbbaldius must be retained for that one the 
type of which is the Ostend whale. 
But, as I before said, these two genera seem to me to be rather super- 
fluous; indeed I should prefer to consider even the best-characterized of 
the various genera of fin-whales that have been proposed of late only as 
sections of the genus Balenoptera (Pterobalena, Kschr.). Cetologists 
have gradually gone so far as to make a genus of every well-founded 
species of fin-whale in our northern seas. Accordingly the generic cha- 
racters coincide to a great extent with the specific ones; and it is hardly 
to be expected that those characters the presence of one cf which seems 
now to imply the presence of the other, will also prove to be always con- 
nected with each other when we obtain a more accurate knowledge of the 
fin-whales of the other great seas, In some cases generic characters have 
also been taken from parts of the organization the value of which as such 
are at least very doubtful. I mention, as an instance, that one of the 
generic characters for the genus Physalus is taken from the sternum, 
though, from the observations now before us, it would only seem possible 
to infer that the shape of this bone varies so much in different individuals 
belonging to this genus, that it is even doubtful whether it can furnish us 
with certain specific characters. Even the character taken from the 
shape of the first rib (whether it is double-headed or not) cannot perhaps 
in all cases be so thoroughly depended upon as is usually supposed ; and it 
would not be amiss to recall the fact that Eschricht pointed out, more 
than twenty years ago, that he had found a slight indication of a bifur- 
cation in the upper end of the first rib of a whale which he and, more 
recently, my distinguished friend Mr. W. H. Flower without any hesita- 
tion have referred to Balenoptera antiguorum, viz. the whale stranded at 
Katwijk aan Zee in December 1841, and that he also found the first rib 
on the left side of an Orca-skeleton from Greenland perfectly distinctly 
forked. Thus the modern genera can hardly be said to be well founded 
as yet; and as the fin-whales hitherto known are not so numerous that 
there is any fear of losing a general view of them when they are kept 
together, there seems at present to be no practical necessity for them. 
