290 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV,. 



what he deemed tangible characters. At the same time, he succeeded in 

 placing the general subject on a much higher scientific plane, although in 

 the vast amount of rubbish he swept away were some vestiges of truth. 

 He showed, from osteological considerations, that the Greenland Whale 

 was specifically distinct from at least one of the Right Whales of the southern 

 hemisphere the Baleine du Cap, afterwards named Balocna australis, 

 and to which for many years were referred by numerous authors all the 

 Right Whales of the southern waters. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY RESEARCHES AND OPINIONS. 



It is hardly necessary to follow in detail the history of the species 

 through the long list of systematic writers down to recent times, who, ac- 

 cording to personal predilections, recognized it as specifically distinct or as 

 referable to the Greenland Whale, since nothing of importance was added 

 to its history down to the capture of the young example in the port of San 

 Sebastian in 1854. This was fortunately figured by Dr. Monedero, 1 and 

 the skeleton was later acquired by Eschricht for the University Museum at 

 Copenhagen. In 1858, Eschricht received, through his friend Professor 

 Geffrey of Paris, a copy of Dr. Monedero' s lithographed sketch of the 

 animal, in which he recognized at once a species very different from the 

 Greenland Whale. He immediately hastened to Pampeluna, where the 

 skeleton had been preserved, and secured it for future study at Copenhagen, 

 to which place it was at once transported. On his return from Pampeluna 

 Eschricht visited Paris, and laid before the French Academy his celebrated 

 memoir 'Sur une nouvelle methode de 1' etude des Cetaces,' 2 in which he 

 says: "II devient done plus que probable que les Baleines franches qui 

 jadis furent Tobject d'une p&che dans le golfe Biscayen et dans le partie 

 septentrionale de TAtlantique, ont appartenue a une espece differerite de 

 toutes les autres" (/. c., p. 60), and promised later to communicate the re- 

 sults of his investigations of its skeleton. He here mentions, however, no- 

 distinctive characters, nor does he refer to it by any particular name, either 

 scientific or vernacular. 



In 1860, he favored the French Academy with a communication entitled 

 *Sur les baleines franches du golfe de Biscaye/ 3 but we vainly look here for 

 what the title so encouragingly leads us to hope for. No details regarding 



1 Copia al nature! del Ballenato muerto en la playa de S. Sebastian, el 17 de Enero de 1854, 

 hecha por las mdicaciones y direccion del Dr Monedero. The figure (the only authentic one 

 of the species extant prior to 1879) is reproduced in Gervais and Van Beneden's " Oste"ographie 

 de CetaceV livr. 3, 1868, pi. vii 



2 Compt. rend, de 1'Acad. des Sci., XLVII, 1858, pp. 51-60. 



3 Compt. rend, de 1'Acad. des Sci., L, 1860, pp. 924-929. 



