48 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



Family 3. Megapteridse. Humpbacked Whales. 

 Megaptera americana. " Inhab. Bermuda." 



[From the anonymous writer of 1665 in the Philos. Transactions, Dudley, a tracing 



in the British Museum, and Hartt's Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil.] 

 Megaptera osphyia. " Inhab. Atlantic." 



[From Cope.] 

 Megaptera versabilis. " Inhab. North Pacific, California coast." 



[From Cope.] 

 Eschrichtus robustus. " Inhab. North Sea, coast of Devonshire, Sweden, Atlantic." 



[The only American reference is Cope's statement that there is a ramus of an under jaw 



in the museum of Rutgers College.] 

 Family 4. Physalidae. 



Physalus antiquorum. " Inhab. North Sea, Greenland, Hampshire, etc." 



Sibbaldius sulphureus. "Inhab. North Pacific, northwest coast of America, California." 



[From Cope.] 

 Sibbaldius tectirostris. " Inhab. North Pacific " [really Atlantic]. 



[From Cope.] 

 Sibbaldius tuberosus. " Inhab. northeast coast of America." 



[From Cope.] 

 Balaenoptera velifera. " Inhab. Oregon, California, Queen Charlotte's Sound." 



[From Cope.] 



In all this, it will be observed, there is but one species which Gray himself 

 established, Megaptera americana. For this the only original material he had was a 

 tracing of unknown origin. It is singular that he does not give M. longimana an 

 American habitat, as in the Catalogue of 1866 he mentioned four specimens from 

 Greenland as being in the British Museum. They were from Eschricht's collection. 



In 1870 Dr. Gray published an article entitled "The Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of the Cetacea," ] which is a kind of confession of faith as regards the discrimi- 

 nation of species and allied matters. It presents in the clearest manner Dr. Gray's 

 views on these subjects, and is accompanied by an extensive list of species, which 

 latter are divided among three geographical areas : (1) the northern and temperate 

 seas, (2) the tropical seas, and (3) the south, or southern temperate seas. The list 

 contains no less than 50 species and varieties of baleen whales. It is full of 

 errors and misconceptions, and is chiefly interesting as showing Dr. Gray's point 

 of view at the time it was published. Much more can doubtless be said in favor 

 of that part of the list which relates to the Delphinidce than that which includes 

 the Balienidce. 



In Feb., 1874, Dr. Gray published a brief note on the Megaptera letticosa of 

 Cope, 2 in which he expressed the opinion that the species was a very distinct one, 

 but that the name was a synonym of Megaptera americana Gray. 



Frederic Cuvier's Natural History of Cetaceans, published in 1836, 3 contains 



1 GRAY, J. E., The Geographical Distribution of the Cetacea. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 

 6, 1870, 387-394. 



1 GRAY, J. E., On the Bermuda Humpbacked Whale of Dudley (Balcena nodosa, Bonnaterre; 

 Megaptera americana, Gray; and Megaptera bellicosa. Cope). Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 13, 

 1874, p. 186. 



3 CUVIER, F., De 1' Histoire Naturelle des Grace's, 1836. 



