CHAPTER VIII. 



THE NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE, AL^NA GLACIALIS BONNATERRE. 



Since the separation of the Right whale of the temperate eastern Atlantic 

 from the Arctic Right whale by Eschricht, the validity of the former species has 

 been universally accepted, though opinions have differed as to whether its American 

 counterpart is identical with it. The European species, known as the Nordcaper 

 or Sarde, was named Balcena glacialis by Bonnaterre (9, 3) and Balcena bis- 

 cayensis by Eschricht (1860). The latter name was not accompanied by a descrip- 

 tion. Bonnaterre's diagnosis does not include a reference to a type-specimen. 

 Unless there is more than one species on the European coasts, we may, therefore, 

 draw characters from whatever specimens have been described. As would natur- 

 ally be expected, the later accounts are generally fuller and more accurate than the 

 earlier ones, but even the fullest descriptions are to a certain extent fragmentary 

 and unsystematic and contain contradictory statements and measurements. To 

 thread one's way through the maze requires a large amount of patience and con- 

 sumes a great deal of time, and the results obtained are not entirely satisfactory. 



My study of the literature of the European Right whale, and of American 

 specimens, leads me to believe that there is a greater amount of individual varia- 

 tion as regards proportions in the genus Balcena than in Balcenoptera, and that we 

 may not look for the same conformity in this respect in the former as in the latter. 

 It is possible, of course, that there may be several species of Balcena on the Euro- 

 pean coasts and an equal number on the Atlantic coasts of North America, but 

 there appears to be no real foundation for such an opinion. To a certain extent 

 the variations in proportions observable among specimens hitherto described are, 

 no doubt, due to differences in age and to inaccurate measurements. It will be found 

 that in general appearance, color, form of parts, etc., the European specimens agree 

 well together. 



The European specimens which have been described are few indeed. The 

 most celebrated is that captured at San Sebastian, Spain, in 1854. It was a young 

 individual 24 ft. 9^- in. long. It enabled Eschricht to prove his assumption that 

 the Right whale of the temperate eastern Atlantic was a different species from 

 the Arctic Right whale. He intended to publish a detailed account of it, but died 

 before the work was accomplished (Fischer, 44, 19). Dr. Monedero in San Sebastian 

 published a lithographic figure of this specimen, with measurements which have 

 been copied by Fischer (44-, 19), Gasco (48, 587), etc. This figure has been highly 



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