1908.] Allen, The North Atlantic Right Whale. 301 



history of the North Atlantic Right Whale, based on American specimens. 

 This paper l includes, first, a summary of the late Prof. E. D. Cope's accoun 

 of the osteological characters of the type of his Balcena cisarctica, published 

 in 1865, based on a young specimen from Delaware Bay. This is followed 

 by an account of the capture, January 7, 1880, of a specimen in the harbor 

 of Charleston, S. C., also a young example, with a brief description and 

 measurements of the skeleton, preserved in the Charleston Museum, con- 

 tributed, with a drawing of the skull, by the late Dr. G. E. Manigault, then 

 curator of the Charleston Museum. There is next a short account of the 

 external characters of a specimen captured off the coast of New Jersey in 

 the spring of 1882, with measurements and a figure (side view of animal) 

 drawn by Dr. Holder, with details of the head and tail, taken from photo- 

 graphs made by the well-known animal artist, D. C. Beard. 2 Then follows 

 a detailed account of the osteology of the skeleton in this Museum, taken on 

 the south shore of Long Island, N. Y., probably prior to 1875, with a figure 

 of the skeleton. Following this are several pages of doubtfully pertinent 

 references to whales formerly seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 3 



These specimens are all referred to Balcena cisarctica Cope, the identity 

 of which with "B. biscayensis Eschricht" the author considers as "now 

 pretty well established." Its relations to other species are considered, 

 following which is a concise summary of the history of the Right Whales 

 of the North Atlantic (pp. 120-133), chiefly in respect to their synonymy and 

 relationships. This paper, although somewhat crude, is the foundation 

 of our scientific knowledge of the Right Whale of the North Atlantic coast 

 of North America. 



Flower, 1864-1891. A publication which has had much influence with 

 British zoologists is the late Sir William Henry Flower's 'List of the 

 Specimens of Cetacea in the Zoological Department of the British Museum,' 

 published in 1885. 4 His views, as here expressed, differ widely from those 

 held by him in 1864-1869 respecting the number of genera and species of 

 Right Whales. Instead of the recognition of two genera (Balcena and Euba- 

 Icena) and several species, as in 1864, 5 only two are recognized, both of which 

 are referred to the genus Balcena, namely, (1) B. mysticetus Linn., and (2) 



1 The Atlantic Right Whales: A Contribution, embracing an examination of T. The ex- 

 terior characters and osteology of a cisarctic Right Whale male. II. The exterior characters 

 of a cisarctic Right Whale female. III. The exterior characters of a cisarctic Right Whale 

 sex not known. To which is added a concise resume" of historical mention relating to the 

 present and allied species, By Joseph Bassett Holder. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., I, No. 4, 

 pp. 99-137, pll. x-xiii. May, 1883. 



2 In this connection attention may be called to the sketches of a whale captured February 

 23, 1897, at Amagansett, Long Island, N. Y., made by Mr. Beard and published in his 'Dan 

 Beard's Animal Book' (New York, Moffat, Yard & Co., 1907), p. 213 (animal, in profile and 

 front-views, etc.), p. 219 (diagrams of animal), and p. 222 (photograph of parasites, from life). 



3 Cf Allen, Science, 1st ser., I, pp. 598, 599, June 29, 1883. Also Holder and Allen, ibid., 

 II, pp. 132-134, and 266, 267. 



5 Proc. P Zool. Soc.' London, 1864, pp. 389-391; Trans. Zool. Soc. London, VI, 1869, p. 115. 



