. The geography of mammals. The Right Whale. (Balfena mysticetus.) [Flower and Lyd. llamm., p. 236.] Besides Manatus and Halicore, a third quite distinctform of Sirenian was formerly an inhabitant of the NorthPacific This was Stellers Sea-cow (Rhytina stelleri), byfar the largest animal of the group, which was extermi-nated by human agency about 1768. Fortunately recentresearches in Behrings Island have been successful insupplying specimens of its skeleton for our principalmuseums, and Steller, its discoverer, left to posterity a goodaccount of its habits and anatomy. MARINE MAMMALS 205 Sectio
. The geography of mammals. The Right Whale. (Balfena mysticetus.) [Flower and Lyd. llamm., p. 236.] Besides Manatus and Halicore, a third quite distinctform of Sirenian was formerly an inhabitant of the NorthPacific This was Stellers Sea-cow (Rhytina stelleri), byfar the largest animal of the group, which was extermi-nated by human agency about 1768. Fortunately recentresearches in Behrings Island have been successful insupplying specimens of its skeleton for our principalmuseums, and Steller, its discoverer, left to posterity a goodaccount of its habits and anatomy. MARINE MAMMALS 205 Section IV.âDistribution of Cetaceans Adopting the recognized division of the Cetaceans intotwo sub-orders, Mystacoceti and according as towhether their mouths are furnished with baleen ( whale-bone ) or teeth, we will first consider the True or Whale-bone Whales, which consist of a single family Bahenida,usually divided into rive genera: BaJUena, Neobal&na,Rhachianectes, Megaptera, and Balamoptera. Of these,. Fig. 47.âThe Speem Whale. (Phj$eter macroceplalui.) [Flower and Lyd. Mamm., p. 249.] Balama (Fig. 46, p. 204). Megaptera, and Balamoptera are almost cosmopolitanâspecies of them, whether distinct ornot is at present more or less uncertain, being met with innearly every part of the ocean. But Bhachianectes hasas yet been ascertained to occur only in the NorthernPacific, and Neobalama in the South Polar Ocean, so thatwe have in these cases two well-marked local types todeal with. The Toothed Whales < Odontoceti) are more diversiriedthan the preceding group, and are usually held to em-brace at least four existing families besides extinct forms. 206 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS The first family, containing the Physeteridae or Sperm-Whales, consists of at least six genera, Physeter (Fig. 47,p. 205), Cogia, Hyperoodon, Ziphius, Mesoplodon, andBerardius). Physeter and Cogia are inhabitants of thewhole oceanic area between the tropics, extending in certainlocalities some
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidgeogra, booksubjectmammals
