PREFACE. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



It is almost needless to repeat a statement witli whicli nearly every work treating of tlie 

 anatomy or zoology of the Cetacea commences, viz., that of no order among the vertebrated 

 animals is our knowledge at present so scanty, and of none are the difficulties which meet the 

 investigator so numerous and hard to overcome. The fact is known to every naturalist, and has 

 been a sufficient reason to induce the Council of the Ray Society to undertake the republication, 

 in English, of the present memoirs, which, being written in the Scandinavian languages, and not 

 hitherto translated into any other, have remained inaccessible to the greater number of European 

 zoologists. Moreover, the animals treated of in these memoirs belong, most of them, to the 

 British, all to the North European Eauna, and have, therefore, an important claim upon our 

 attention ; one of them especially, the Greenland Right-whale, has for centuries engaged a large 

 share of the energies and capital of British seamen and British merchants. 



Some difficulties presented themselves at first in the way of procuring a translation linguisti- 

 cally correct, and at the same time free from technical errors. 



These were, however, to a great extent removed by the kindness of Professor Reinhardt, 

 whose extensive and accurate acquaintance with the English language is well known to all who 

 have had the pleasure of corresponding with him. At the request of the Council of the Society, 

 he undertook the superintendence of the translation of the three Danish memoirs, his own and 

 those of his friend the late Professor Eschricht, and his careful supervision is a guarantee for 

 the fidelity of the rendering of the facts. The translation having been made with literal 

 accuracy, necessarily abounded in modes of expression which, though generally intelligible, have 

 an unfamiliar sound to the English ear. It has been my task to correct this defect as far as 

 practicable ; but feeling that in a scientific work an accurate representation of the author's meaning 

 is of far greater importance than polished phraseology, I have been careful to avoid any chance 

 of altering the sense, even at the risk of leaving many quaint and occasionally inelegant pieces of 

 composition. The indulgence of the reader is especially requested in these cases. 



The translation of the Swedish memoir by Professor Lilljeborg was made in the same manner, 

 under the supervision of the author. 



h 



