100 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Geographical 



Sweden 1 see they have discovered and recognized my second 

 species in Swedish seas, showing that both the British species 

 probably migx-ate from the north. The skull of the Mediter- 

 ranean Orca, though so much smaller, is very like those of the 

 Arctic and British ones. 



The Grey Finner [Cuvierius] is doubtless a northern species 

 that sometimes comes south ; but one is not so certain of the 

 Broad-headed Whale [Rudolphius) and the gigantic Flat-back 

 [Sibhaldius) , which have only been found so seldom in the 

 south part of the North Sea or German Ocean that it is im- 

 possible to say if they are northern or southern species. At 

 any rate we may make sure that an animal upwards of one 

 hundred feet long does not breed in the much-frequented 

 German Ocean ; and neither genus has been discovered in the 

 Arctic Ocean or in the Mediterranean sea. Perhaps they are 

 the last remains of their race. 



Thus the Dolphin [Delphinns delpMs)^ the Grampus 

 {Grampus Cuvieri), and the Petrorhynchus mediterraneuSj 

 which are essentially Mediterranean species, following the fish 

 out from Gibraltar, come north down the coasts of Spain and 

 France, and impinge on the coasts of Hampshire, Devon, and 

 Cornwall along with the pilchards and mackerel. Some pro- 

 ceed to the left, up the German Ocean — and others to the right, 

 either up the Irish Sea or the Atlantic Ocean on the west side 

 of Ireland, and they have rarely been found as ftir north as 

 Shetland or the coast of Norway ; but I am very doubtful if 

 these animals, like the Sperm-Whales, ever find their way 

 back. 



A kind of whale exists in the Bay of Biscay : and we are 

 told that there was formerly a whale-fishery there ; but both it 

 and the Basque fisheries have long passed away. A whale at 

 distant periods has occurred, especially at the south-east corner, 

 which is probably the most quiet part of this stormy bay. The 

 occurrence of a specimen is a proof of the existence of enough 

 animals to carry on the race residing permanently in or occa- 

 sionally visiting the bay ; for we may make sure that it is not, 

 as some people seem to suppose, a spontaneous reproduction or 

 renewal of the species. 



In January 1854 a cow whale and its calf were observed in 

 the Gulf of Gascony near San Sebastian : the calf was taken ; 

 but the mother escaped. The skeleton was preserved in sepa- 

 rate bones at Pampeluna; Eschricht obtained it by ex- 

 change for tlie museum at Copenhagen ; and Professor 

 Reinhardt intends some day to describe and figure it. It is said 

 to be quite different from the Greenland Whale ; indeed Mr. 

 Flower informed me that it is a Ilunterius, with coarse whale- 



