388 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Geographical 
Museum,’ published in 1866, in the * Synopsis of Whales and 
Dolphins,' published in 1868 ; and since that time I have con- 
tinued to take advantage of examining all the specimens that 
I could see and the various works of Flower in England, 
Eschricht, Reinhardt, Lilljeborg, and Sars in Scandinavia, 
Van Beneden in Belgium, Gervais in Paris, and Burmeister 
in Buenos Ayre 
am quite aware that we still have but a very imperfect 
knowledge of these animals; but we shall soon be better in- 
formed if we go on as we have done since I first published 
my essay on the Cetacea in the ‘Voyage of the Erebus and 
Terror’ in 1846, where I first asserted that the whales from 
different localities were different species, and that there were 
several species found in our own seas, and thus more than 
doubled the number of the Cetacea hitherto recorded as in- 
habitants of our seas. also came to the conclusion that 
the whalebone-whales that were found in different seas were 
distinct species. Indeed the older navigators observed that 
a Right ale was never found within the tropics, and 
the truth of this statement has been verified by modern ob- 
servers; and therefore one might almost conclude à priori 
that the Right Whales of the northern and southern seas were 
distinct species: the examination of the various kinds of 
whalebone confirmed this fact, and also proved that there 
_ were not only two kinds of whales caught for the sake of the 
whalebone, but several, the whalebone of each (fetching a 
different price in the market, and being used for very different 
economic purposes) affording very good characters for the di- 
stinction of these kinds, when submitted to microscopic exami- 
nation. The same fact was shown to exist among the Hump- 
backs and Finners, as the “ whale-fin" merchants, as they are 
called, have many species fetching very different prices and 
being used for very different purposes. 
In the work quoted I proved, by the examination of the 
measurements which had been given by Sibbald, Knox, and 
others, when they were submitted to comparison and sketched 
to scale, that there were several species of Finner Whale in 
the European seas. Recently Sars has repeated this com- 
parison, with the same conclusion. 
have prepared the accompanying list of the species of 
Cetacea, arranged geographically, believing that, imperfect as 
I know it to be, it will be one of the best means of procuring 
more materials for increasing our knowledge of these animals, 
and thus enabling us to obtain a better account of their distri- 
bution. The species are named in the ‘S opsis of Whales 
and Dolphins’ or in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales.’ 
BORK ene 
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