THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 55 



the Cape of Good Hope and of Greenland. 1 He concludes that they represent two 

 very distinct species. The figures and much of the matter of this article were after- 

 wards re-published in his Histoire Naturelle des Cetaces. In 1868, Van Beneden 

 published an essay on the geographical distribution of the Right whales, 2 accom- 

 panied by a chart on which are represented the distribution areas of the various 

 species of Balcena. The chart shows the range of 23. biscayensis as extending to 

 the east coast of the United States. (See p. 56.) 



Dr. Gray published 3 criticisms of Van Beneden's map, contending that it was 

 based on insufficient material and thus of no profit to science. In sustaining this 

 contention he referred to most of the earlier American observations, including those 

 of Dudley, Maury, Cope, etc., and commented on them at some length. In the same 

 year, 1868, Van Beneden replied to the criticisms of Gray. One of the points 

 involved is the relation of B. biscayensis to B. cisarctica. Regarding this Van 

 Beneden remarks : 



" But the most important question, and that on which Dr. Gray and myself are 

 not in accord, is that of knowing whether the Balcena biscayensis is the same as 

 that which Professor E. D. Cope has made known under the name of Balcena cis- 

 arctica, from a skeleton preserved in the Philadelphia museum. Dr. Gray says 

 'Certainly not'; I, on the contrary, think it is. ... The reasons on which 

 Dr. Gray depends in saying ' Certainly not,' are, in my opinion, far from having the 

 importance which he would accord them. These reasons are : That the Balcena 

 cisarctica has 14 pairs of ribs and that the first is not bifid, it is singleheaded." 

 Van Beneden's conclusion is : "We shall continue to regard the Balcena cisarctica 

 of Professor Cope as being a synonym of Balcena biscayensis,' 1 ' 1 4 



The monumental work of Van Beneden and Gervais on the Osteography of 

 the Cetacea, 5 (text dated 1880, but began to appear in 1868), is based chiefly on Old- 

 World material and observations, but some American specimens are mentioned and 

 described and the species established by American zoologists are briefly discussed. 

 The ear-bone of a specimen of Balcena cisarctica Cope is described and figured. 

 Reference is made to the occurrence of several skeletons of Megaptera from Green- 

 land in European museums, and the figures of the skeleton of M. longimana are 

 probably from this material, though it is not explicitly so stated. The same is 

 true of the description and of a part of the figures of B. acuto-rostrata. A brief com- 

 parison is made between the various nominal species of baleen whales established 



1 VAN BENEDEN, P.-J., Le Rorqual du cap de Bonne-Espe"rance et le Ke"porkak des Groen- 

 landais. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. (2), 18, 1864, p. 389. 



' VAN BENEDEN, P.-J., Les Baleines et leur Distribution Geographique. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. 

 (2), 25, 1868, pp. 9-21. 



* On the Geographical Distribution of \\\zBal(enid(B, or Right Whales. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 (4), i, 1868, p. 242; also (4), 6, 1870, pp. 193-204. 



4 VAN BENEDEN, P.-J., La Premiere Cote des Grace's. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. (2), 26, 1868, 

 pp. 7-16, pis. 1-2. 



8 VAN BENEDEN, P.-J., and GERVAIS, P., Ostdographie des Ce'tace's, vivants et fossiles. Atlas, 

 1868-1879. Text, 1880. 



