198 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Whales described 
tab. vii. fig. 1. But there is much uncertainty attached to 
these vertebra. Lacépède observes :—“ Le 30 ventóse de l'an 
6 de Vere françoise, un cétacé de vingt mètres de longueur 
fut pris dans la Méditerranée sur la cóte occidentale de l'ile 
Sainte-Marguerite, municipalité de Cannes, département du 
Var, Le citoyen Jacques Quine en fit un dessin, que j'ai fait 
grayer; et bientót aprés, les fanons, les os de la téte et quel- 
ques autres os de cet animal ayant été apportés à Paris. . . ." 
Although these bones are said to be those of one whale, 
they evidently belong to two genera: the head, the baleen, 
and probably the vertebre (tab. vi. and tab. vii. figs. 2, 3, 4) 
* all belong to a Finner (or Balenoptera); Cuvier refers to 
these bones under the name of “ Rorqual de Méditerranée” 
(Os. Fossiles, vol. v. p. 383). The mass of cervical vertebra, 
on the other hand, are, as observed by Cuvier (ibid. p. 368), 
the bones of a true whale; so that the authority for this mass 
having been found in the Mediterranean may be doubtful. 
These cervieal vertebre are figured by MM. Van Beneden 
and Gervais as those of B. biscayensis ; they differ very slightly 
from the similar bones of Balena mysticetus; and without 
other specimens, I should suppose them to be a mere indivi- 
dual variety of that species. At any rate, it ought to be called 
Balena mediterranea rather than biscayensis, unless it can 
be proved that they are like the cervical vertebre of the only 
skeleton of the whale found in the Bay of Biscay; and no such 
comparison is recorded. Cuvier, not knowing the cervical 
vertebra of Balena mysticetus, compared them with the bones 
of the Cape whale, B. australis, and correctly determined that 
they were distinct from those of that species. 
Secondly, MM. Van Beneden and Gervais place among the 
materials which are supposed to belong to Balena biscayensis 
a mass of cervical vertebræ which is in the British Museum, 
and, | am certain, belong to species very different from the 
Thirdly, they regard the Balena cisarctica of Cope as a 
m 
ge RLR AGERE 
gaa dps pal RES ce tar 
e 
