R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. o 



(lat. 59° 49' N., long. 43° 54' W.) to Upernavik (lat. 72° 48' N., 

 long. 55° 54' W.), and is valuable as expressing the state of 

 knowledge regarding the Mammalia of Greenland, in Denmark, 

 represented by a naturalist who has paid much attention to the 

 arctic fauna, in the elucidation of some of the marine Mammalia of 

 which he has so highly distinguished himself. This, as far as I 

 am aware, is all that immediately relates to the Mammals of Danish 

 Greenland. Various other writings have thrown much light on 

 their general history ; but it is with their special history and 

 geographical distribution in Greenland that I have to deal. 

 Among these memoirs, I ought not to omit mentioning the 

 excellent paper on the Mammalia of the northern countries by 

 Professor Malmgren,* who accompanied the Swedish expedition 

 of Otto Torell to Spitzbergen.t He has added, incidentally, not 

 a little to our knowledge ; but his treatise is mostly a compilation, 

 and, not looking upon the arctic fauna in a comprehensive view, 

 he has fallen into many errors in zoo-geography. For instance, 

 I cannot understand why he has excluded Balcenoptera gigas, 

 Eschr., and B. rostrata^ Fab., from the Spitzbergen fauna, nor 

 still less why Balcena mysticetus, Linn., is not classed among the 

 Mammals of the seas around. This last is assuredly found there. 

 In Smeerenberg Bay the Dutch used to catch it in abundance, 

 and even erected boiling-houses on shore to " try " out its oil ; 

 and the two former are also found there. Indeed nearly all of 

 the Greenland marine Mammalia are also found in Spitzbergen ; 

 and certainly Dr. Malmgren's stay was much too short to allow 

 him to come to a decision on the matter.J 



Eschricht and J. T. Reinhardt's memoirs on the Greenland 

 Whale § have added directly to our knowledge ; while the numerous 

 papers and catalogues of Gray || and Lilljeborg^ on the British 

 and Scandinavian Cetacea (most of which are also found in Green- 



* " Beobachtungen uud Anzeichnungen iiber die Siiugethierfauna Fin- 

 markens und Spitzbergens," in Wiegmann's Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte 

 (Berlin), 1864, pp. 63-97, translated from Ofversigt af Kong. Svensk. Akad., 

 &c. (1863), ii. pp. 127-155. 



f Svenska Expeditionen till Spetsbergen Sr 1861, under Ledning af Otto 

 Torell : ur detagarnes Anteckningar och andra Handlingar skildrad af K. 

 Cheydenius (Stockholm, 1865). See the account of the Walrus in that 

 work, pp. 168-183 (with plate and woodcut), and excellent figures of Hy- 

 peroodon butzkopf, Lacep., facing p. 480, &c. 



X It is stated that this Whale has been of late years unknown within many 

 miles of Spitzbergen. The walrus hunters say that the sea is getting too 

 shallow for it. See Lamont, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, xvi. pp. 152 and 433. 



§ Ray Society's Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea, by Professors Eschricht, 

 Reinhardt, and Lilljeborg, edited by W. H. Flower. 4to. London, 1866. 

 With plates. I. On the Greenland Right-Whale {Balcena mysticetus). By 

 D. F. Eschricht and J. Reinhardt. 1. The Geographical Range of the 

 Greenland Whale, in former times and at present. 2. The External and 

 Internal Characters of the Greenland Whale ; External Conformation ; 

 Cavity of the Mouth ; Skeleton ; Appendix (by the Editor). II, On the 

 Species of Orca inhabiting the Northern Seas. By D. F. Eschricht. III. On 

 Pseudorca crassidens. By J. Reinhardt. IV. Synopsis of the Cetaceous 

 Mammalia of Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway). By W. Lilljeborg. 



II Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum, 1866 ; and Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society, and Annals of Nat. Hist., passim. 



^ Ray Society's Memoirs on the Cetacea, supra. 



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