22 CETACEA. 



guage on the subject, in 'Transactions of the Danish Academy' 

 for 1845-46, has kindly translated for me the following passage 

 in his last published paper, as the result of his examinations up 

 to that time : 



" Of all that has been communicated in this chapter, it appears 

 to me to be proved, that amongst the Fin Whales, at least three 

 different species have their abode in the Northern Seas : 



" I. In the Group of the Longimana. 



" 1. The Greenland Keporkak. B. Boops, O. Fab. B. longi- 

 mana, Rudolphi. 



" II. In that of the Short-handed. 



" 2. The Norwegian Vaaga kval, B. minor ; and 



" 3. The common great short-handed, jB. Boops. 



" To be almost proved that besides there exists, 



" 4thly, A peculiar large short-handed species, the Balceno 

 pterus Musculus. 



" And, at least, it is highly probable, that 



" 5thly, The Greenlandian Kepokartrak is the representative 

 of a particular form ; and even that 



" 6thly, The Greenlandian Tikagalik or Balcena rostrata, O. 

 Fab., may be a different species from the Norwegian f Vaagek- 

 val.' " Eschricht, 4th Mem. p. 157. 



In the Appendix to the ' Zoology of the Erebus and Terror/ from 

 observation made during the progress of the work through the 

 press, I remarked, " The account of the genus Bal&noptera, in the 

 former part of this essay ,i was only derived from the examination 

 of a single specimen, and the comparison of the descriptions and 

 remarks of preceding authors. Since that time, by the examina- 

 tion of Professor Eschricht's paper, and from personal communi- 

 cation with him, and the examination of the several skeletons of 

 this genus, in different collections, I am satisfied that there are 

 several distinct species which may be thus distinguished." 



The examination of the proportions pointed out by the tables 

 above quoted, and the measurement of other specimens, all of 

 which I drew from scale on paper, have shown that they were 

 permanent, and to be considered as specific or generic distinc- 

 tions rather than variations in the growth of the same species, 

 and these distinctions were further proved by the examination 

 of the skeletons ; for it was found that the bones of the neck of 

 the small species, which had been considered to be the young 

 of the larger ones, were anchylosed together, while those of the 

 larger ones were free ; and it also showed that the form of the 

 lateral process of the nuchal vertebra was the same in specimens 

 of different sizes from the same locality, showing that the struc- 



