THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NOETH ATLANTIC. 51 



and leaves it with the remark that neither Right whales nor the Commoii Finback 

 seem to fit the accounts. He states that there was apparently no regular coast 

 fishery formerly from which opportunity could be had to investigate the Finbacks, 

 and hence knowledge of them depended on occasional strandings. He gives a brief 

 account of specimens examined on various parts of the coast of Europe at different 

 dates. He then takes up the history of the development of knowledge regarding 

 Finbacks, citing Dudley, Sibbald, Cuvier, Holboll, etc. Eschricht concludes that 

 one may be convinced that there are many species of Finbacks in the south seas and 

 the north, and states that the characters of these will be treated of in subsequent 

 essays. 



He calls attention to the defects of anatomical descriptions, due to imperfect 

 material, and to the use of fishery stations, especially in Greenland and near Bergen, 

 and enumerates the advantages to be obtained. He then mentions the material 

 obtained by him from Holboll and Christie (in Bergen). 



ESSAY 2. Anatomical descriptions of the external form of the foetuses of two 

 species of Northern Finbacks, with application to physiology and zoology. 



The two species of Finbacks are the Little Piked whale, Balwnoptera acuto- 

 rostrata, and the Greenland Humpback. Though of much importance, the descrip- 

 tions are not germane to the purpose of the present paper, but the essay ends with 

 a section " on the use of whale foetuses in the determination of species," in which the 

 characters of Fabricius's B. boops and Rudolphi's B. longimana are carefully con- 

 sidered, and the conclusion reached that "the B. longimana of Rudolphi and 

 Brandt really is specifically identical with Fabricius's B. boops." 



ESSAY 3. On the fcetal forms of tlie alimentary and reproductive apparatus in 

 the baleen whales. 



ESSAY 4. On Beaked whales \Hyperoodon\. 



These two essays do not concern us in the present connection. Their contents 

 are sufficiently indicated in the titles. 



ESSAY 5. The osteology and discrimination of species of Finback whales. 



In this long and important essay the skeletons of Bal(enoptera acuto-rostrata 

 and the Greenland Humpback are minutely described and many bones figured. 

 Eschricht then takes up the question of the specific characters of the two whales 

 above mentioned and enumerates them seriatim, after which he enumerates the dif- 

 ferences which seem to separate the Little Piked whale, or Tikagulik of Greenland, 

 from the Vaagehval (. acuto-rostrata) of Norway. Regarding this he says that 

 as to whether they are specifically identical he has many times changed his opinion. 

 Later he remarks : " As the Vaagehval and Tikagulik agree fully, especially in 

 regard to the color of the baleen and the number of vertebrae, as well as in the 

 whole and every part of the different sections of the vertebral column, I have not 

 thought that the above-mentioned differences can be considered as sufficient ground 

 on which to establish specific distinctness." He then describes a Common Finback 

 which stranded on the coast of Norway in 1841, and discusses its affinities, and 

 afterwards enumerates the kinds of whales found in Greenland waters and known 

 to the Eskimos, and quotes a description and measurements by Moller of a Finback 



