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Show 1882.] WHALES OF THE GENUS HYPEROODON. 725 On the other hand, Gervais, in the ' Osteographie des Cetaces,' written in conjunction with Van Beneden, firmly maintained the specific identity of the two forms, citing cases of intermediate structure of cranium between the typical form of H. rostratus and that of //. latifrons, and affirming that all the specimens referred to the former were either females or immature males. The importance of solving such a question is perfectly evident. It is indeed a pressing need in Cetology, as involving such an important point in the life-history of so common a British species, and also because, although Captain Gray's discovery of the commercial value of Hgperoodon-oil may give us for a short time ample means for investigating the subject, it will before long, it is to be feared, place it altogether beyond our reach. It was last year that this enterprising seaman, who has already done so much to increase our knowledge of the Northern Cetacea, especially by the interesting description he has given us of the natural position in the mouth and mode of action of the baleen of the Greenland Whale (see 'Land and Water,' 1st December 1877) turned his attention to Hyperoodons or " Bottlenoses," which had hitherto in their native haunts enjoyed a happy immunity from tbe attention paid by whalers to the more gigantic members of their order. Observing their frequency in the seas which he visited in the pursuit of the Greenland Whale, the seas lying to the east of Greenland, between Iceland and Spitzbergen (which, by the way, was the original seat of the Greenland Right-Whale fishery, before it was mostly transferred to Baffin's Bay), he harpooned several specimens and brought back their oil. This, upon analysis, as related in the following communication, proved to be very similar to that of the Sperm-Whale, and probably of equal value for the special purposes to which that now scarce material is put, and for which, I believe, no efficient substitute has been found. The presence of spermaceti also in the head of the Hyperoodon, which has been affirmed and denied by previous investigators, was fully confirmed by Captain Gray's observations. Hearing that Captain Gray intended this year to devote himself exclusively to the capture of " Bottlenoses," I called his attention to the interest of the subject, and to the great opportunities which he would have for solving the disputed question of the difference or identity of the two alleged species, and requested him carefully to note the sex and appearance of all the individuals killed which might throw light upon the question. How completely Captain Gray has carried out this object will be seen by his own communication, which, besides giving us for the first time any idea of the external characters of the adult male Hyperoodon (an animal never previously figured or described), must cause II. latifrons to be henceforth erased from the list of species, and the genus Lagenocetus to be consigned to a similar fate. Besides the notes, Captain Gray has brought home tangible evidence of the correctness of his observations in a series of skulls, of which that of an adult male has been presented to the Museum |