Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum

by John Edward Gray

M. van Beneden regards the character on which this genus is established as merely a variation of Balæna australis (Ostéog. Cét. p. 35).

The skeleton was sent from the Cape of Good Hope by Dr. Horstock. It is described by Schlegel, Abhand. Gebiete der Zool. 1841, p. 37 (Flower, P. Z. S. 1864).

2. Hunterius biscayensis.

Hunterius biscayensis, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, i. p. 244; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 2.

Balæna biscayensis, Eschricht, Compt. Rendus, 1860, Act. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, xiii.; Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1870, p. 200 (not Van Beneden).

Balæna eubalæna, Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 391.

Inhab. St. Sebastian. Skeleton of very young animal in Mus. Copenhagen, from the Museum of Pampeluna.

Mr. Flower informs me that this skeleton belongs to the genus Hunterius, which has brittle whalebone, with a large coarse fringe (which easily splits into strips), and a bifid first rib.

3. Hunterius Swedenborgii.

Hunterius Swedenborgii, Lilljeborg, N. Act. A. Sci. Upsal. vi. 1867, p. 35, t. 9, 10, 11 (skeleton); Gray, Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 1.