Distribution of Whales and Dolphins. 99^ 



exhibits their geographical distribution and migrations, natural 

 or accidentalj wli^ch give us some idea of what may be the 

 case with the whales of the other parts of the world, where 

 they are perhaps better developed than in the North Atlantic ; 

 for there can be no doubt that commerce and, more especially, 

 steamboats in the North Atlantic have driven the northern 

 species further back and confined them more to the Arctic 

 regions, have destroyed many individuals, and limited the 

 breeding of the Mediterranean species and of those which in- 

 habit the southern districts of the North Atlantic, and that 

 several species that are now only found in a subfossil state, 

 imbedded in the alluvial soils of Sweden, Holland, and the 

 coasts of England, were formerly inhabitants of these seas. 



The species that are now found in the North Atlantic may 

 be divided into : — first, those that inhabit the Arctic seas and 

 migrate or are accidentally brought south ; secondly, those 

 which chiefly live and are bred in the Mediterranean, or in the 

 bays of the southern parts of the North Atlantic, and which 

 migrate and follow the shoals of fish towards the north. There 

 are no doubt some species, as the common Porpoise, the Pike 

 Whale, the common Finner, and the Goose Whale [Hype- 

 roodon)^ that breed in the middle district (on the coasts of 

 Germany, Holland, and Great Britain) , and are found in the 

 more northern and more southern seas. On the other hand, 

 the Zip)hlus Sowerhiensis has been found in the German Ocean 

 only in its southern part and off the north coast of Scotland, 

 but is most abundant on the west coast of Ireland, belonging 

 as it does to a Mediterranean group (though not yet observed 

 in the Mediterranean) and perhaps only carried north by the 

 Gulf-stream. 



Some species are essentially Arctic, as the Beluga and the 

 Monodon ; but even they are sometimes driven south, perhaps 

 by storms. Others, as the Pilot Whale, always proceed south 

 in large " schools :" some keep on the west side of the North 

 Atlantic and go to the east coast of America ; others keep on 

 the east side and are found on the west coast of Europe, the 

 east and west coasts of great Britain, the coasts of France 

 and Spain, and some in the Mediterranean ; but the Medi- 

 terranean species is generally smaller and may be distinct. 

 The voracious and destructive Orca^ or Killer, lives in smaller 

 groups, and seems to follow the same course as the Pilot 

 Whale ; that is to say, Orcm are found, in the Arctic and other 

 seas, as far south as the Mediterranean ; and, like the Pilot 

 Whales, the southern specimens are much the smallest. I 

 determined that we liad two species of Killer on the British 

 coast ; and by a photograph sent me by the Royal Academy of 



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