1882.] WHALES OF THE GENUS HYPERODDON, 725 



On the other hand, Gervais, in the ' Osteographie des Ce'taces,' 

 written in conjunction with Van Beneden, firmly maintained the 

 specific identity of the two forms, citing cases of intermediate 

 structure of cranium between the typical form of H. rostratus and 

 that of //. latifrons, and affirming that all the specimens referred 

 to the former were either females or immature males. 



The importance of solving such a question is perfectly evident. 

 It is indeed a pressing need in Cetology, as involving such an 

 important point in the life-history of so common a British species, 

 and also because, although Captain Gray's discovery of the com- 

 mercial value of Hyperoolon-o\\ may give us fur a short time ample 

 means for investigating the subject, it will before long, it is to be 

 feared, place it altogether beyond our reach. 



It was last year tliat this enterprising seaman, who has already 

 done so much to increase our knowledge of the Northern Cetacea, 

 especially by the interesting description he has given us of the 

 natural position in the mouth and mode of action of the baleen of 

 the Greenland Whale (see 'Lund and Water,' 1st December 1877) 

 turned his attention to Hyperoodons or " Bottlenoses," which had 

 hitherto in their native haunts enjoyed a happy immunity from tlie 

 attention paid by whalers to the more gigantic members of their 

 order. Observing their frequency in the seas which he visited in 

 the pursuit of the Greenland Whale, the seas lying to the east of 

 Greenland, between Iceland and Spitzbergen (which, by the way, was 

 tlie original seat of the Greenland Right-Wiiale fishery, before it was 

 mostly transferred to Baffin's Bay), he harpooned several specimens 

 and brought back their oil. This, upon analysis, as related in the 

 following communication, proved to be very similar to that of the 

 Sperm-Whale, and probably of equal value for the special purposes 

 to which that now scarce material is put, and for which, I believe, 

 no efficient substitute has been found. The presence of spermaceti 

 also in the head of the Hyperoodon, which has been affirmed and 

 denied by previous investigators, was I'ully confirmed by Captain 

 Gray's observations. 



Hearing that Captain Gray intended this year to devote himselr 

 exclusively to the capture of " Bottlenoses," I called his attention 

 to the interest of the subject, and to the great opportunities which 

 he would have for solving the disputed question of the difference or 

 identity of the two alleged species, and requested him carefully to 

 note the sex and appearance of all the individuals killed which might 

 throw light upon the question. How completely Captain Gray has 

 carried out this object will be seen by his own communication, 

 which, besides giving us for the first time any idea of the external 

 characters of the adult male Hyperoodon (an animal never previously 

 figured or described), must cause H. latifrons to be henceforth 

 erased from the list of species, and the genus Lagenocetus to be 

 consigned to a similar fate. 



Besides the notes. Captain Gray has brought home tangible 

 evidence of the correctness of his observations in a series of skulls, 

 of which that of an adult male lias been presented to the Museum 



