196 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Whales described 
seems therefore inclined to believe that the differences between 
animals which have mou and double-headed ribs are 
mere accidental variation must regard this as a very 
large conclusion from very ui premises. I believe (and, I 
think, on very good evidence) that there are certain whales in 
which the double head to the first rib is the normal form ; 
and I should not the less be inclined to fliers that this was 
not the case if I should find a whale of this kind that had the 
first rib on one side single-headed ; for, no doubt, whales with 
single- and double-headed first ribs are each liable to such an 
accidental malformation, and it is to be remarked that there is 
a difference in the general form of the rib connected with the 
form of its head. 
This theory of M. Van Beneden has induced him to regard 
the skeleton of the whale that was sent from the Cape by 
Mr. Horstock to the museum at Leyden, which has been 
called Balena antarctica and Tear ter Temminckii, as only 
a variety of B. australis; but he even records many important 
differences between it and the two skeletons of B. australis in 
the Paris Museum: to be sure, its specific distinctness 1s op- 
posed to one of his theories that only one species of whale is 
found in each district or locality. It is much to be regretted 
that preconceived theories should, as in this case, bias the 
judgment of a student of natural science. This theory seems 
also to have Y dicii interfered with the determination of 
the nes of Balenopt. 
M eneden en puru in this work, with some 
alteration, his essay on and map of the distribution of species of 
whales, on which I published some observations in the * Annals 
and Macarie of Natural History,’ 1868, vol. i. p. 242. 
I have studied the materials which this XU affords, and I 
do not see any reason to alter the conclusions I came to; 
indeed they are more firmly established. There does not 
appear, from any of the habitats quoted in this work, any au- 
thority for believing that the whales do inhabit a belt across 
the oceans. To be sure, under Balena australis of the Cape, 
he quotes the fact that a Right Whale has been recorded as 
found on the east coast of South America; but he does not 
cite any specimens or drawings to show that the Right Whale 
of the east coast of South’ America is the same species as that 
found at the Cape of Good Hope: indeed the only approach 
to any argument in support of this theory is that he believes 
Balena cisarctica of the east coast of North America to be the 
same as B. biscayensis. As this last-named whale appears to 
take an important part in this theory, I will nme to give 
its history. 
FORT ag MS a Uri dne e Ae 
