534 MR. R. BROWN ON THE CETACKANS [Nov. 12, 



in popular imagination with the Arctic regions than any other, viz. 

 the Cetacea. Though much more imperfectly known than any other 

 group, yet my ohservations on them will he more brief than on the 

 other mammals, and for the same reason which has conduced to the 

 present state of cetology, viz. the want of opportunities of examining 

 the species. These remarks will therefore necessarily consist of a 

 statement of the geographical range and migrations and a descrip- 

 tion of the habits of the better known, and a list of the species, and 

 whatever information can be collected on these points regarding the 

 others only known by skeletons or remains in museums. These I 

 have examined carefully ; and the synonymy given is the result of 

 that study, coupled with investigations made in Greenland. With 

 the exception of a few of the more common, such as Phoccena com- 

 munis, Beluga catodon, &c., I have not had an opportunity of exa- 

 mining, otherwise than in the manner indicated, most of the species. 

 I have, however, examined at different times above thirty specimens 

 of BalcBna mysticetus, and many of Monodon monoceros ; and to 

 these I have appended various descriptive observations derived from 

 my own examination and without reference to any other published 

 descriptions, which have in nearly every case been only derived from 

 an examination of foetal specimens or isolated individuals, conveying 

 but an imperfect idea of the species. What I said in another me- 

 moir equally applies here, viz. that the descriptions are not given as 

 complete, but merely appended as fragments of a m^moire pour servir. 

 Those who have attempted the examination of any member of the 

 group Cetacea, and still more those whose lot has been to examine 

 with frozen fingers (plunged every now and again into the warm 

 blood of his subject) such an unwieldy object on a swaying ice-floe, 

 will appreciate the difficulty of drawing up such descriptions ; and to 

 them no apology is necessary for their imperfection. The absolute 

 necessity of recording every description of the members of this 

 order, however apparently well known, must be my excuse for pre- 

 senting these notes in such a disjointed state. In the original draft 

 of them I had mentioned various particulars now omitted — the recent 

 reproduction by the Ray Society of the admirable memoirs of 

 Professors Esch?;icht, Eeinhardt, aud Lilljeborg rendering the pub- 

 lication of these unnecessary. 



1. Bal^na mysticetus, Linn. 



(a) Popular names. — Greenland (Inhale, Right Whale, Common 

 Whale (English authors); Whale, Whale-fish, and "Fish'' (English 

 whalers). The young are denominated suckers, and are also some- 

 times known by the following names : — Shortheads (as long as they 

 continue suckling) ; Stunts (two years) ; ShuU-fish (after this stage 

 or until they become Size-fish, when the longest splint of whalebone 

 reaches the length of six feet) ; Tueqval 1 (Norse) ; Rhetval (Danish) ; 

 Arhek, Arbavik, Sokalik (Greenland); Akhek, Akbeelik pi. (Eskimo 

 of western shores of Davis Strait) ; I have also heard both the 

 Greenlanders and western Eskimo call it puma, but I cannot learn 

 what is the origin of this word, and suspect it to be whaler, — a cor- 



