The French and Belgian naturalists are very far behind in the knowledge of these animals, as is proved by the names of the plates in the 'Ostéographie de Cétacés,' and especially by the text of the 'Whalebone Whales,' by M. Van Beneden, which is the only part of the text printed. M. Eschricht did some good work on the common arctic whales, but he wanted specimens, and was very fond of theoretical speculations from very few materials. Lillejeborg, in the Nova Acta Upsal.' (1867), described all the Swedish whales, translating the British Museum Catalogue of Cetacea, as far as it regards the Swedish species, and making additions to it; Prof. Malm, in the Konigl. Svensk. Akad. Handl.' (ix. 1870) has described all the specimens of Cetacea and their bones which are in the Swedish Museums: he uses the 'Catalogue of Cetacea in the British Museum' as the basis of his work, and describing some new species and figuring them, and specimens of parts not before described or figured; and they certainly are the two best foreign authors on this subject. I think this shows that the English zoologists hold a good place among the students of Cetacea.

It may be observed that the number of Cetacea found in England is much greater than those recorded on the Continent; thus Nilsson, in his Scandinavian Fauna, only enumerates sixteen, and Schlegel, in his Fauna of Holland,' only ten species, against the English thirty; but no doubt this arises from their having been more industriously collected and carefully observed in this country. Since 1864 I have examined many specimens and their skeletons, and been able to define the characters of the genera and species more accurately and to obtain more knowledge of their geographical distribution; by this means I have increased the number of species to thirty-three.

Whales and dolphins chiefly live and exclusively breed in sheltered bays and in shallow waters on the shores or over raised banks in the ocean. The deep ocean appears to be a barrier which only stragglers pass, a circumstance entirely overlooked by M. Van Beneden, in his 'Geographical Distribution of Whalebone Whales,' who believes that each species inhabits a defined belt across the ocean. The species which inhabit and chiefly breed in the Arctic Seas migrate southwards, some individuals keeping to the eastern or European, and others to the western or American hemisphere, so that some species of these whales are found on the shores of both Europe and America. The species that live and breed in the

Mediterranean, when they pass out of the Straits of Gibraltar, do not at once cross the Atlantic Oceau, as they ought, according to Van Beneden's theory, but naturally, with their desire to keep to the shore, come north and keep along the coasts of Portugal, Spain and France, until they reach the south coast of England, where the greater number have been observed. Some of them pass to the east and up the German Ocean, and others to the west coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, some even reaching the northern end of the gulf-stream. This explains how Petrorhynchus cavirostris, bred in the Mediterranean, sometimes occurs at Shetland, and at others in the German Ocean.

I have used the names as in my Catalogues, and have only added a few synonyms, because they are given at length in my 'Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum' (8vo, 1866), with numerous figures in the text, and more modern ones in the 'Supplement to the Catalogue' (1871), which are sold at a very small price.

Order CETACEA.

Teeth all similar, conical, sometimes not developed, when the palate is furnished with transverse plates of baleen or whalebone. Body fish-shaped, smooth, bald. Limbs clawless; fore limbs fin-shaped; hinder united, forming a forked horizontal fin. Nostrils enlarged into blowers. Teats two inguinal. Carnivorous.

Section I. MYSTICETES (or Whalebone Whales).-Head large, depressed. Teeth rudimentary; they never cut the gums. Palate with transverse, fringed, horny plates of baleen. Nostrils separate, longitudinal. Gullet very contracted. Tympanic bones simple, large, cochleate, attached to an expanding peristic bone, which forms part of the skull.

The whalebone whales, or Mysticetes, inhabiting the northern hemisphere, live and breed essentially in the colder parts of it, and the southern parts of England seem to be the limits of their migration; and the great increase of traffic of ships, and especially steam vessels, on the more temperate parts of the sea, appears to restrict their visits, and especially their breeding, more to the arctic portion; thus some whales which were formerly said to be common on the coast of Britain, as the right whale, no longer visit this country.

The humpbacked whale (Megaptera), the razor-back (Physalus Antiquorum), and the pike whale (Balanoptera rostrata) perhaps

breed here in the quiet bays; at any rate, they visit this country almost every year, the two latter following the herrings and perhaps the mackerel, and often ascending the large rivers, the pike whale having been found as high up the Thames as London Bridge. Perhaps the great northern rorqual (Cuvierius Sibbaldii) and the broad-beaked rorqual (Rudolphius laticeps) have the same habit as the razor-back, but they have not been so often seen. It is not so easy to know the geographical distribution of the gigantic flat-back (Sibbaldius borealis), which has only occurred twice, once in the southern parts of the Southern Ocean, and again on the south part of England. It has never been recorded as found in the North Sea, and therefore one is not sure what is its native locality, but one may make certain that an animal upwards of a hundred feet long does not breed in the much-disturbed German Ocean. The skeleton of the adult specimen was exhibited in London, Paris, and other European capitals, then in America, from whence it migrated to the Crimea, and it is now in the Museum at St. Petersburg. A skeleton seen by so many persons in all countries, and figured several times, still remains unique, whereas if it had occurred elsewhere it would have attracted attention. Unfortunately, the young specimen at Charmouth appears to be lost; it is said to have left that place to come to London, but I have not been able to trace it further, or to verify the idea that it is the same as the one shown at Charing Cross or a species allied to it.

Sub-order I. BALENOIDEA.

Head large. Body stout. Dorsal fin none. Chest and belly smooth, without plaits. Pectoral fin broad, truncated; fingers five, graduated. Arm-bones very short, thick; radius and humerus of equal length. Baleen elongate, slender. Tympanic bones rhombic. Cervical vertebræ united.

Family I. BALENIDE (Right Whales).-Head very large, and body short. Dorsal fin none. Belly smooth. Baleen elongate, slender. Vertebræ of the neck anchylosed. Pectoral fin broad, truncated at the end; fingers five. Tympanic bone rhombic; maxillary bones narrow.

i. BALENA.-Baleen thin, polished with a thick enamel on each side, and a fine elongate slender fringe. Cervical vertebræ united by their bodies into one mass.

1. Balana mysticetus (Right Whale).- Inhabits North Seas; Greenland; said formerly to have been an occasional visitor. Peterhead, 1682; Sibbald. Zetland; Barclay. Zetland; Barclay. Skeleton from Greenland (Mus. Roy. Coll. Surg.) and dried fœtus (Mus. Hull and Liverpool).

2. Balana britannica. Balena mysticetus, var., Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 83, fig. 3 (cervical vertebræ), copied as Balæna biscayensis, Van Beneden, Ostéog. Cetac. t. vii. fig. 7. Mac Leayius britannicus, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1870, vi. pp. 198 and 204; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 46.-Inhabits British Channel. Cervical vertebræ, dredged up at Lyme Regis, in the British Museum.

The British Museum has just received a skeleton of MacLeayius australiensis, which shows that there is a very great difference between its cervical vertebræ and that of M. britannicus from Lyme Regis, which has caused me to make it into a different genus.

Sub-order II. BALENOPTERIDEA.

Head moderate. Body elongate. Dorsal fin distinct, rarely wanting. Belly longitudinally plaited, rarely smooth. Baleen short, broad. Maxillary bones broad. Pectoral fin lanceolate; arms elongate; radius and ulna much longer than the humerus. Fingers four, subequal. Vertebræ of the neck free or partially united. Tympanic bones oblong or ovate.

Family I. MEGAPTERIDE (Humpbacked Whales).— Dorsal fin low, broad. Pectoral fin very long, with four very long fingers of many phalanges. Vertebræ 50 or 60. Cervical vertebræ often anchylosed. Lateral process of the axis rarely ossified. Neural canal large, high, triangular. Ribs 14 or 15.

i. MEGAPTERA.-Blade-bone without acromion or coracoid process. Body of cervical vertebræ subcircular.

1. Megaptera longimana (The Humpback). Inhabits North Sea. Newcastle; Johnston. Foetus from Greenland (Brit. Mus.) Var. Morei, Gray, 1. c., p. 122. Inhabits estuary of the Dee. 1863; J. More. Skeleton of female (Free Museum, Liverpool).

ii. ESCHRICHTIUS. Blade-bone with large coracoid process. Body of cervical vertebræ separate, small, roundish oblong. The neural canal very broad and high.-Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 132, f. 21 (bones).

1. Eschrichtius robustus (Gräsö Whale). Inhabits North Sea. Skeleton found buried in Denmark (Lillejeborg). Coast of Devonshire (fifth vertebra cast ashore, Babbicomb Bay, 1861); Pengelly (cast in Brit. Mus.). Not observed in a living state, and may be extinct, like several other whales the remains of which are found in the alluvian deposits of Holland and Belgium.

Family II. PHYSALIDA (Finner Whales).-Dorsal fin high, erect, compressed, falcate, about three-fourths of the entire length from the nose. Pectoral fin moderate, with four short fingers of four or six phalanges. Vertebræ 55 or 64. Cervical vertebræ not anchylosed. Neural canal oblong transverse.

*Vertebræ 60 to 64. First rib single ended.

?i. BENEDENIA. - Rostrum of skull narrow, attenuated, with straight slanting edges. Second cervical vertebra with two short truncated lateral processes. The first rib single-headed.

1. Benedenia Knoxii. Inhabits North Sea. Coast of Wales (1846, 38 feet long); perhaps the young of Balanoptera Antiquorum, as I first described it.

ii. PHYSALUS.-Rostrum of the skull narrow, attenuated, with straight sloping sides. Second cervical vertebra with a broad lateral process, with a large perforation at the base. Lateral rings as long as the diameter of the body of the vertebra. First rib single-headed. Sternum trifoliate, with a long slender hind process. Fingers shorter than the fore-arm bones. Scapula very broad; acromion and coracoid process well developed.