242 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Oeographical 



XXXI. — On the Geographical Distrihution of the Balaenidae or 

 Right Whales. By Dr. J. E. Geay, F.K.S., V.P.Z.S., 

 F.L.S., &c. 



Peof. Van Beneden has read a paper to the Royal Belgian 

 Academy on the geographical distribution of Les Baleines^ 

 which is published in the first number of the ' Bulletin ' for 

 1868, accompanied by a map. He acknowledges only five 

 species of Right Whales, having the following geographical 

 distribution : — 



1. B. mysticetus. The Arctic Ocean on both sides of Green- 

 land, and on the coast of Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk. 



2. B. hiscayensis. The North Atlantic, from latitude 65° 

 to 45°, and a belt across the Atlantic to the coast of the United 

 States, from lat. 45° to 50°. 



3. B. japonica. A band across the North Pacific from 

 lat. 60° to 45° on the west coast of America and 45° to 30° on 

 the coast of Japan. 



4. B. australis. A belt across the South Atlantic from 

 lat. 25° to 30° on the west coast of Africa and lat. 35° to 50° 

 on the coast of South America. 



5. B. antipodarum. In a similar belt across the South 

 Pacific from the west coast of South America, in lat. 45°, to 

 New Zealand. 



Thus it will be seen that M. Van Beneden supposes that 

 Right Whales inhabit belts across all the seas except the 

 Indian Ocean. This excejDtion is extraordinary, as Capt. 

 Maury's chart shows that Right Whales are comparatively 

 abundant in a belt between latitude 30° and 50° from the 

 Cape of Good Hope to Australia. It is in this belt that 

 Bal<xna marginata and B. australiensis are most probably 

 found ; but M. Van Beneden ignores the existence of these 

 species. 



Mr. Blyth also mentions a species of Right Whale, under 

 the namie of B. indica, founded on some bones in the Museum 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which he says inhabits "the 

 Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and occasionally enters the 

 Persian Gulf." But this must be a mistake, as these places 

 are situated in the torrid zone, which is to these animals, as 

 Capt. Maury justly observes, " forbidden gromid ; and it is as 

 physically impossible for them to cross the equator as it would 

 be to cross a sea of flame. In short, these researches show 

 that there is a belt, of from two to three thousand miles in 

 breadth and reaching from one side of the ocean to the other, 

 in which the Right Whale is never found." (Maury, Whale- 

 Charts, p. 233.) 



