THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 265 



In support of his opinion, he brought forward in 1871 (J$) two characters as 

 distinguishing biscayensis not only from cisarctica but from australis and an- 

 tipodarum. The first is drawn from a fragment of a rib found at Biarritz, which 

 is "regularly oval, without appreciable angle, ridge, or crest." The fragment 

 has a maximum diameter of 11 cm. and minimum diameter of 8 cm. This rib, 

 according to Fischer, is " infinitely more massive, more rounded, and thicker" than 

 in Balcena mysticetus, australis, or antipodarum, and lacks the crest found in those 

 species. 



As a second distinguishing character of B. biscayensis, Fischer points to the 

 bifid first rib of the type specimen from San Sebastian, not found in cisarctica or 

 australis. He remarks further: "As to the whale of the east coast of North 

 America, nothing proves to me its identity with the Basque whale. The Basque 

 whalers themselves, after having almost destroyed the whales of the Bay of Biscay, 

 spread out westward and in 1372 reached the banks of Newfoundland, 1 where they 

 saw a whale which they judged different, and called 'Sardaco Baleac.' It was 

 smaller than the Biscay whale " (42, 299). 



As regards the size of the rib found at Biarritz, it is to be said that in the 

 skeleton from Pt. Lookout, North Carolina, in the Raleigh museum, the largest rib 

 has a maximum diameter of 12.7 cm., and two others a diameter of 10.2 cm. 

 This was an adult male 50 ft. long. The largest ribs in the skeleton in the 

 American Museum, New York (which is about 40 ft. long), have a diameter of 

 9.75 cm., and the maximum diameter of the 3d rib in the 39-foot Taranto specimen, 

 as shown by Grasco's figures, is 10 cm. It will be seen, therefore, that Fischer's 

 measurements of the Biarritz rib are not remarkably large. The smoothness of 

 that fragment is hardly a reliable character, as it is well known that the shape of 

 the ribs is quite variable, not only in the same species, but among the various pairs 

 in a single skeleton. 



In considering the importance of the bifurcation of the proximal end of the 

 first pair of ribs in the type of B. biscayensis, the second character brought for- 

 ward by Fischer as distinguishing that species from cisarctica, it will be interest- 

 ing to read Grasco's description, quoted on p. 257. This shows that the bifurcation 

 occurs on both sides, but is of small extent and is unequal on the two sides. As 

 stated by Gasco, the Taranto whale is without this bifurcation of the first rib, and 

 such is the case in all the American specimens of B. cisarctica I have examined. 

 The B. biscayensis at San Sebastian (not the type) has the bifurcation on one side 

 only, and that but slightly developed. 2 



In another paper, published in 1872 (43, 19), Fischer again sums up his opin- 

 ions regarding B. biscayensis and B. cisarctica, as follows : 



" The Balcena biscayensis, the Nord caper of the Norwegians and Icelanders, 

 and the Hunterius svedenborgi ought, it seems to me, to be assembled in the same 

 genus, if not in the same species, very close to the Hunterius temmincki of the 



1 Regarding this statement, see p. 267. 



2 See GRAELLS, Mem. R. Acad. Cien. Madrid, 13, pt. 3, 1889, pi. 4, fig. 6. 



