56 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



by European and American authors, and opinions expressed as to their identity. 

 The text concludes with the chart previously mentioned, on which is indicated the 

 distribution of species of Balcena in North American waters. The portion of this 

 work relating to the genus Balcena having been finished by 1870, Dr. J. E. Gray 

 took occasion to criticise it severely, 1 and in the course of his remarks touched upon 

 certain American species. He refers to the objections which have been made to his 

 own method of treating species and higher groups, and cites arguments sustaining 

 his position. He criticises the chart showing geographical distribution, above men- 

 tioned, and comments on the meagreness of the material on which Van Beneden 

 and Gervais based conclusions in some instances. He gives a list of North Atlan- 

 tic species of Balcena which he considers valid, and mentions the species of the 

 North Pacific which have received names. Much of the criticism contained in this 

 paper was doubtless just or at least useful, but later studies have not on the whole 

 sustained Gray's contentions regarding species and other matters. The American 

 species cited are those of Cope, both Atlantic and Pacific, special mention being 

 made of Balcena cisarctica, Agaphelus gibbosus, and RTiach,ianectes glaucus. 



In the same year Van Beneden replied to the criticisms of Gray on the 

 Balcenidce of the Osteographie des Cetaces 2 and in that connection made the 

 following remarks regarding American material : 



" This whale [Nordcaper] which was hunted in the English Channel was the 

 first destroyed, and if by hazard it presents itself still in Europe, it is always in the 

 middle of winter. It was in February, 1854, that the last one made its appearance. 

 We cannot say positively at what time of the year the whale which Prof. A. 

 Agassi/ has prepared for the Cambridge museum was captured, but we have 

 reason to believe it was in summer. . . . We shall have therefore for this 

 second species, as for the first \_B. mysticetus], fixed winter and summer stations. 

 The whale captured on the coast of America and to which Prof. Cope has 

 given the name of Balcena cisarctica is, we believe, the same which formerly 

 made its regular winter station in Europe. Dr. Gray does not share this opinion. 

 To solve this interesting question directly by observation we addressed ourselves 

 to Prof. Cope, who has kindly sent us from Philadelphia one of the ear-bones of 

 his new species. We requested Prof. Reinhardt, of Copenhagen, to compare this 

 ear-bone with that of the skeleton from Pampelune in his museum, the only one 

 actually known in Europe. Although the first bone belongs to an adult and the 

 second to a young animal, which renders comparison difficult, it is, however, evident, 

 according to Prof. Reinhardt, that there is nothing which would lead one to suppose 

 that the bones belonged to distinct species." 



Van Beneden closes with four theses, of which three are as follows : 



(a) "There exist two species of true whales (Right whales) in the North 

 Atlantic and on the coasts of Greenland, one the common whale, called also the 

 Greenland whale, and the other the Sarde or Nordcaper. 



1 GRAY, J. E., Observations on the Whales described in the Osteographie des Cetace"s of MM. 

 Van Beneden and Gervais. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 6, 1870, pp. 193-204. 



'VAN BENEDEN, P.-J., Observations sur 1'Osteographie des Ce'tace's. Bull. Acad. R. Belg. 

 (2), 30, 1870, pp. 380-388. 



