Catalogue of Cetacea in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden

INTRODUCTION In 1887 Jentink published his Catalogue Ostéologique des Mammifères; on pages 172-179 of this catalogue a total of 85 Odontoceti and 11 Mysticeti specimens are enumerated of which (parts of) skeletons were present in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (RMNH), Leiden. A recent study of Odontoceti skulls in this collection revealed the need of a thorough revision of this material since many specimens have been labeled with names which are at present considered obsolete. We therefore decided to publish a new catalogue of the RMNH cetacean collection, in order to make this collection easier accessible for other cetologists. The present catalogue contains all osteological material of Cetacea, as well as the few mounted skins and plastic casts of dolphins. The specimens are arranged according to their prevailing species name. Of each specimen catalogue number and (if known) sex are given. If the specimen has been listed by Jentink, reference is made to the name and registration letter under which it features in that catalogue. Furthermore, the state of the material is given, its locality, collector and year of acquisition by the museum. Type material is indicated as such. The skulls and skeletons are given in the lists 'Odontoceti' or 'Mysticeti'; all other material appears under the heading 'Miscellaneous'. The present numbering may not always seem logical. Jentink (1887) listed each specimen by its species name followed by a letter. At the turn of the century the museum began using numbers, starting with 1. If parts of a specimen were acquired at different times, each acquisition received its own number; this resulted in one specimen sometimes having as many as four different numbers! Those specimens and the ones listed by Jentink have now been given a new