CETACEA. 



up the subject. He has found out that the Hump-backed Whale 

 is evidently a Rorqual (p. 305), but does not record it as a spe- 

 cies, nor recognise it as the Cape Rorqual, nor as Dr. Johnston's 

 Whale ; the latter he incorrectly considers the same as B. Phy- 

 salus. He combines together as one species Quoy's short-finned 

 Rorqual of the Falkland Islands with Lalande's long-finned 

 Whale of the Cape (p. 352). He is in great doubt about the 

 hump of the Cachalots (p. 279) ; his remarks on that subject and 

 on the Cachalots of Sibbald, show how dangerous it is for a na- 

 turalist to speculate beyond the facts before him. 



Sir William Jardine's WHALES in the f Naturalists' Library ' is 

 chiefly an abridgement of M. Lesson's miserable compilation, 

 with some extracts from Knox and other English writers on the 

 subject. 



Nor are the British species better known; for in Fleming's 

 excellent work they are left nearly in the same state they were 

 in when Linnaeus published his twelfth edition of the 4 Systema 

 Naturae ' ; and Mr. Bell's account and figures are chiefly derived 

 from preceding authors : this revision, though not undertaken 

 with any view to this subject, has taken three or four species 

 from our list, and determined the specific identity of one hitherto 

 neglected, and added two or three species for the first time to 

 our Fauna. 



I am by no means convinced that all the species in the follow- 

 ing Synopsis are distinct. It is rather to be regarded as a col- 

 lection of the accounts of the Whales of different localities, de- 

 rived from the specimens and other materials at present at our 

 command; and I have endeavoured to select from these sources 

 what appeared to afford the best characters for defining them, 

 so as to furnish to those naturalists who might enjoy the oppor- 

 tunity of observing the animals, a short abstract of what has been 

 observed with regard to them, and of referring them to where 

 they could find a more detailed account of each kind. I have 

 been induced to adopt this course, as wherever I have had the 

 opportunity of examining and comparing the proportions of the 

 allied species of distant seas, and of comparing their bones, they 

 have invariably proved distinct, which leads me to believe that 

 many of the other species of different countries, which have been 

 regarded as the same, will be found to be distinct, though repre- 

 sentatives of those found in other seas. 



SYNOPSIS OF FAMILIES. 



Suborder I. Skin smooth, bald. Teats 2, inguinal. Limbs claw- 

 less j fore-limbs fin-shaped; hinder united, forming a forked 

 horizontal tail. Teats inguinal. Nostrils enlarged into 

 blowers. Carnivorous. CETE. 



