1908.] Allen, The North Atlantic Right Whale. 299 



3 Baleines de Sardes ou Sardes, au bane de Terre-Neuve; 

 4 Balcena cisarctica, sur les cotes E. de TAm^rique du Nord; 

 5 Hunterius Svedenborgi, subfossile de Gothland; 



6 Balcena Lamanoni, subfossile de Paris. [To which he should have added 

 Balcena britannica Gray, Lyme Regis.] 



"Ces designations," he continues, "s'appliquent-elles a une seule espece? 

 Je ne le pense pas, malgre 1'opinion de leur identite" presentee par M. Van 

 Beneden/' After a brief discussion of their characters he reaches the 

 conclusion that there are at least two species of Right Whales in the tem- 

 perate regions of the North Atlantic, neither of which has any relation to the 

 Greenland Right Whale, Balcena mysticetus. 



Ten years later, in 1881, in another memoir on the Cetacea of the south- 

 west coast of France, 1 he again discussed the number of species and relations 

 of the whales of the Nordkaper group, "propres a 1'Atlantique du Nord, 

 ou recemment fossilisees en Europe," of which he enumerates 12 that have 

 received names. All the living species are now referred to Balcena biscay- 

 ensis, but he believes that Balcena cisarctica (to which he refers the Sarde), 

 should, until better known, be regarded as at least a distinct subspecies from 

 B. biscayensis. The fossil species he regards as not sufficiently known to be 

 classified. Among the additional information of interest relating to the 

 Basque Whale may be noted the publication of Segnette's original descrip- 

 tion ("en mauvais latin") and measurements of an individual stranded on 

 He de Re, in February, 1680. 



As. Fischer's papers have been summarized at length and critically 

 reviewed by True, 2 it is unnecessary to give them further space in the present 

 connection. 



Balcena tarentina CAPELLINI. On the 9th of February, 1877, a Right 

 Whale was taken in the Gulf of Taranto, in the Mediterranean, the first 

 specimen known to have been taken in Mediterranean waters. The speci- 

 men, a young female 12 meters in length, was described and figured by 

 Professor G. Capellini 3 of Bologna under the name Balcena tarentina. 

 It was compared with Dr. Monedero's figure of the San Sebastian whale, 

 from which it differed in the form of the head and pectoral fins. The 

 skeleton passed into the possession of the University of Naples, and later in 

 the same year became the subject of a paper by Dr. Francesco Gasco. 



Gasco, 1877-1879. Dr. Gasco, 4 in his memoir on this specimen, states: 

 " A careful examination of the osteological characters, soon showed me that 



du Sud-Ouest de la France. Actes Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, XXXV, 1881, pp. 

 5-220, pll. i-viii. Also separate. 



2 The Whalebone Whales of the Western North Atlantic, 1904, pp. 264-267. 



3 Delia Balena di Taranto, confrontata con quella della Nuove Zelanda e con talune fossili 

 del Belgio e della Toscana. Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Bologna (3), VIII, 1877, pp. 3-32, pll. i-iii. 

 Also separate, 1877, pp. 1-34, pll. i-iii. 



* Intorna alia balena presa in Taranto nel Febbrajo, 1877. Atti Roy. Accad. Sci. Napoli, 

 VII, No. 16, 1878, pp. 1-47, pll. i-ix. Also separate, same date and collation. 



