Distribution of the Balgenidfe. 243 



The distribution of the species here propounded by M. Van 

 Beneden is simply founded on a theory : he does not give any 

 authority for the range of any of the species ; and I believe 

 that no materials exist for verifying the distribution pro- 

 posed. 



M. Van Beneden compares his map with those of Captain 

 Maury ; but these maps were formed from actual observation 

 made by the masters of whalers ; and they only undertake to 

 show where Sperm and Right Whales have been observed, 

 without attempting to defuie which species of Right Whale 

 inhabited the respective districts ; indeed Capt. Maury seems 

 only to allow two Right Whales — one inhabiting the northern, 

 and the other the southern hemisphere. 



I should be sorry to say that the species, or at least some of 

 them, may not have the range that M. Van Beneden has 

 assigned to them, because I have no material for such a state- 

 ment; but many facts we do know militate against the theory. 

 At the same time I do not think that science is profited 

 by the propounding of such a map without more material, as 

 it may mislead some zoologists to believe that authority for 

 the distribution of the species may exist, and thus prevent 

 them from studying the subject ; and Cuvier has well observed 

 that " when imagination is left at liberty in scientific pursuits, 

 the result is almost always error and confusion." 



As a proof of the want of authority for the distribution here 

 given, I may observe : — 



1. That I am not aware that any bones or other remains 

 (even a piece of whalebone) have ever been received of a 

 Right Whale or Balcena caught on the coast of Siberia ; so 

 we cannot decide whether it is the B. mysticetus of the coast 

 of Greenland that inhabits the seas of Siberia. 



2. We only know the Right Whale found on the Siberian 

 coast from a wooden model made by some Aleutians, though 

 Capt. Maury's chart shows they are abundant in those seas. 

 Some whalers seem to think they are like those in Baffin's 

 Bay, and others that they are very difierent from them, re- 

 marking that "it is not the easiest thing in the world to dis- 

 tinguish the different kinds of whales, even to those who have 

 been in the whaling business ; and a ship must be brought 

 close by a whale to tell for certain his kind " (Whale-Charts, 

 p. 255). 



Capt. Roy, who believes " the Whales of Behring's Straits 

 and Baffin's Bay are the same," observes, " they differ very 

 much from the Kamtschatka or North-west Whale, or the 

 Right Whale of the China seas," showing that in his opinion 

 the Right Whale of the coast of Siberia and Kamtschatka is 



