Distribution of the Baleenidee. 243 
The distribution of the species here propounded by M. Van 
Beneden is simply founded on a theory: he does not give any 
authority for the range of any of the species; and I believe 
that no materials exist for verifying the distribution pro- 
sed, 
“7 Van Beneden compares his map with those of Captain 
Maury ; but these maps were formed from actual observation 
made by the masters of whalers; and they only undertake to 
show where Sperm and Right Whales have been observed, 
without attempting to define which species of Right Whale 
inhabited the respective districts; indeed Capt. Maury seems 
only to allow two Right Whales—one inhabiting the northern, 
and the other the southern hemisphere. 
I should be sorry to say that the species, or at least some of 
them, may not have the range that M. Van Beneden has 
assigned to them, because I have no material for such a state- 
ment; but many facts we do know militate against the theory. 
At the same time I do not think that science is profited 
by the propounding of such a map without more material, as 
it may mislead some zoologists to believe that authority for 
the distribution of the species may exist, and thus prevent 
them from studying the subject; and Cuvier has well observed 
that ‘ when imagination is left at liberty in scientific pursuits, 
the result is almost always error and confusion.” 
As a proof of the want of authority for the distribution here 
given, I may observe :— 
1. That I am not aware that-any bones or other remains 
(even a piece of whalebone) have ever been received of a 
Right Whale or Balena caught on the coast of Siberia; so 
we cannot decide whether it is the B. mysticetus of the coast 
of Greenland that inhabits the seas of Siberia. 
2. We only know the Right Whale found on the Siberian 
_ coast from a wooden model made by some Aleutians, though 
Capt. Maury’s chart shows they are abundant in those seas. 
Some whalers seem to think they are like those in Baftin’s 
Bay, and others that they are very different from them, re- 
marking that ‘it is not the easiest thing in the world to dis- 
tinguish the different kinds of whales, even to those who have 
been in the whaling business; and a ship must be brought 
ag a whale to tell for certain his kind’”’ (Whale-Charts, 
p- ‘ 
Capt. Roy, who believes “the Whales of Behring’s Straits 
and Baffin’s Bay are the same,” observes, “they differ ve 
much from the Kamtschatka or North-west Whale, or the 
Right Whale of the China seas,” showing that in his opinion 
the Right Whale of the coast of Siberia and Kamtschatka is 
