CHAPTER VI 



WORK ON THE CETACEA 



NEXT at any rate to the study of the various races of 

 the human species (which he took up seriously later on 

 in his career), the group of mammals to which Flower 

 devoted special attention, and which attracted his 

 greatest interest, was undoubtedly that of the Cetacea, 

 or whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc. At the time when 

 he set himself seriously to study these aquatic and 

 fish-like mammals, the zoology of the group was 

 certainly in a most confused and unsatisfactory state ; 

 partly, no doubt, owing to the comparative rarity of 

 complete specimens in our museums, and the consequent 

 difficulty of instituting accurate comparisons, and partly 

 to the reckless prodigality with which names had been 

 given to imperfect or insufficiently characterised speci- 

 mens by some of his predecessors and early con- 

 temporaries, and the needless multiplication of generic 

 terms. It was consequently at this time almost im- 

 possible to be sure which was the right name for 

 even many of the commoner species ; while in the case 

 of the rarer kinds, the confusion was almost hopeless. 

 When Flower left the subject which he only did 

 when his working days were over it was in great 

 measure thoroughly in order, although of course much 

 was left for future workers to fill in. Unhappily, his 

 views on the nomenclature of the group have not been 



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