244 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Geographical 
different from, and not, as M. Van Beneden supposes, the same 
as B. mysticetus. | 
8. Balena biscayensis is only known from the skeleton of a 
young specimen taken at St. Sebastian, in the Bay of Biscay, 
now in the Museum at Copenhagen. Mr. Flower informs me 
that this skeleton belongs to my genus Cuviertus, which has 
brittle whalebone, with a large coarse fringe (which easily splits 
into strips), and a bifid first rib. It is very doubtful if this is 
the Whale found on the coast of North America, as it ought to be 
according to M.Van Beneden’s chart. The only reliable account 
of the Whale of that coast is to be found in Dudley’s paper in 
the ‘ Philosophical Transactions’ (xxxiii. p. 258), who says the 
“ Scrag-Whale” (B. gibbosa, Erxleben) has white whalebone, 
“thatwon’t split,” which seems to show that itwas a true Balena, 
which is separated from Hubalena on account of the toughness, 
flexibility, and unsplittability of its whalebone; and, indeed, 
Dudley says the Scrag- Whale “‘is nearest the Right Whale (B. 
mysticetus) in figure and quantity ofoil.”” ‘This does not prove 
that B. biscayensis does not inhabit the coast of North America ; 
but it goes far to show that a species very like B. mysticetus does; 
and M. Van Beneden does not note this fact, though he places 
without doubt the geographical range of B. biseayensis as ex- 
tending to that country, for which there is not a particle of 
evidence. It may be observed that Capt. Maury’s ‘ Whale- 
Charts’ do not offer any confirmation of Prof. Van Beneden’s 
distribution of this species of Right Whale: they are very rare 
in the North Atlantic and off the coast of North America ; a few 
have been observed in the midchannel between Morocco and 
North America, but they were probably animals accidentally 
carried out of their course. 
Professor E. D. Cope, of Haverford College, United States, 
described the “ Black Whale” of the whalers of the east 
coast of the United States, from a nearly complete skeleton 
in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Phila- 
delphia, under the name of Balena (Hubalena) cisaretica 
(Journ. Acad. Nat. Science, Philad. 1865). This may be 
the same as B. nodosa; but it is certainly not the Balene 
(Hunterius) biscayensis ; for it has “ fourteen pairs of ribs, the 
anterior single-headed,” and therefore is a true Hubalena. 
Prof. Cope says, “Individuals are occasionally cast ashore 
eastward, and some are known to enter New-York harbour. 
They were formerly abundant about the mouth of the Delaware: 
a letter of William Penn, dated 1683, states that eleven were 
taken that year about the capes. Five specimens are stated 
to have been seen in the Delaware River since that time ; 
and ten of great size are recorded to have been found on the 
