I s
i
Pallas, under the name o f B . Boops ? (Zool. Ross. Asiat.
i J l ) , describes a Wha le which appears to belong to this
genus, found a t Behring’s Straits by SteUer, when he was
shipwrecked. T h e head was 4, the pectoral fin I , the entire
length, and the vent from the head, as by the following
m e a su rem en t:— length, 50 fe e t; head, 12 feet-
pectoral fin, lO fe e tlo n g and 5 feet wide; tail, 16 feet wide!
and th e vent 35 feet from the head. I f these measurements
are correct, the pectoral fin is shorter au d much wider than
they generally are in this genus. T h e position o f the dorsal
fin IS not noted.
Balænoptera acuto-rostrata, L a c e p . Cetac. t. 8.
Rorqual de la Mediterranée, Cavier, Oss. Foss, v 372 t
2 6 ,/ . 5. Lacep. Cetac. t. 67. • ; •
Balæna antiquorum, Fischer, S yn. from Cuv. Oss. Foss.
B. Boops, F. C u d . Cetac. 321, t. 20, cop. Lacep. t. f
.*.Viao+ \T L> - _________ T . .7* .av . .
Pallas, in llic ‘ Zoologia Ross. Asiat.’ 293, described a
Whale under the name o f B . musculus, observed by MerR
a t Kamtschatka. I t was long an d slender, ash-brown,
white-clouded above, snow-white bene ath and spotted on
the sides. I t was 22 feet 6 long ; the dorsal was 6 feet
from the tail, an d 1 foot 1 1 inches high, behind th e fin the
back was 2-keeled ; the pectoral fin was rounded a t the
end, and 10 feet 7 inches distant from the lip o f the beak,
4 feet 2 inche s long and 1 foot 2 inches wide : behind the
vent, 7 feet before the tail, and 3 feet from the vent is a
while kind of fin, and the genital organs are 1 foot 3 inches
belore the vent. I f this description an d these measurements
are con-eet, it must be a most distinct species, if not
a peculia r genus ; the pectoral fins are nearly in the middle
o f the body, and I know of no whale with a fin behind
the vent beneath, and with the genital organs nearly under
the pectorals. The pectoral is nearly I the entire length.
B a l æ n o p t e r a , Lacep. P ik e d W h a l e s .
Rorqualus, F. Cuv. Mysticetus, Waaler. Bal. trinen-
ms, B a y. Physalis, Flem.
T h e head elongate, flattened. The throat and chest
with deep longitudinal folds and very dilatile. The dorsal
fin compressed, falcate. The pectoral moderate, n o t more
th an h a lf the length o f th e head, of four fingers. The eye
is near the angle o f the mouth, and tho blowers lunate, covered
by a valve and separated by a longitudinal groove.
T h e vent u nder the fi’ont o f th e dorsal fin. Male organs 5.
from the chin, m front o f line o f dorsal ; female n ea r vent.
R ay calls these B a læ n a tripennis, thus separating them
from those which have no dorsal fin ; b u t Pola ch misunderstood
this, and says they have three fins on th eir back.
i h e skull IS broad, depressed : nose broad, gradually
tap e n n g , with straight sides, with a naiTow interorbital
space.—Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. 373, t. 26.
The P ik e d W h a l e , o r F in n e r . Balænoptera Physalus.
Balæna Physalus, B. B w p s , and B. musculus, L in n . S.
N . I. 106, from Martens and Sibbald.
B. gibbar, B o n iia l, Lacep. t. 1, / 2, cop. Martetis
K. inKill.fÄC T Ottstov. t A .P I r.--_ Î-.. 7 7 7 1 . .
- . -0.77,.,.7, . a . O i l , i . i u , c o p . JMC ep . t . a .
Lrreat Norlhorn Rorqual, .Tardine, N a t. L ib t 5 cop
B e ll, Brit. Q u a d ./. 190, from Ostend Whale.
Blackish lead-coloured, pectoral fin and lips blackish,
chin, under p a rt of body below^ the pectoral fin, and large
spot on u pper p a rt o f pectoral white.
Pectoral, or the entire length.
Inhab. North Seas. English and Scotch coast, not un common.
. anatomy o f this animal, and especially a description
of its bones, have been given in Albers. A n a t. Comp,
t. 1. Camper, Cetacea, t. 11 a n d 12. Cuv. Oss. Foss. v . 564,
r f’«« der
L in d e n , and J. Dubar, in separate pamphlets on the specimens
ashore a t Ostend.
Cuvier (Oss. Foss, v. t. 26) figured th e head o f this
Whale under the name of Rorqual de la Mediterranée.
The upper jaw is much narrower than the lower, which is
considerably arched. In his figure the upper jaws from the
back of the blowers are nearly three times as long as the
width a t the p art of the nose in tho front o f tlie orbit ; it is
gradually tapering in front, the sides being straight.
M. Ravm (Ann. Sci. Nat. n. s. xv. t. 9) also figures the
skull ; b u t although it generally resembles Cuvier’s figure
above quoted, it is shorter and broader in proportion b e ing
only twice the length o f the width o f the jaws in front
o f th e orbit.
1, entire.............................
to mouth ......................
to pectoral ..................
to navel.........................
to genital organ ..........
to vent or front of dorsal,
of dorsal fin ..................
of pectoral fin ..............
li of pectoral......................
oftaii .........................
.o..,,,.,,,..,,,í , j . tup.martens.
B .ju b a rte s , Lacep. t. 4 , / 1, from Sibbald, i. 1, f. D
B- Rorqual, Lacep. TJ ..t . . 5. , “f . r ,1,’, t. 6. ------------------------------- i . j j i , i .y.
B. Boops, or B. rostrata, Blumb. Ahh. t. 74
B. ro.slrata, M u lle r, B a n . ii. O. Fah. F. G. 40. Ravin
Ann. Sci. N a t. n. s. v. t. 11, xv. (. 9. H u n te r , Ph il.
Trans, ix xm . t. 20, fern. cop. F . M. t. 4. B ra n d t He R a t-
seburgh, t. 1 .5 ,/ 3, 4, mos e ife rn . Scoresby, t. 13.
Fm-back Whale, Budletj, P h il. Trans, xxxii. 258.
Balæna sulcata árctica, Schlegel, Ahh. i. 39, t 6
Balænoptera arctica, Schlegel, Abh. ii. 10, t. 9, male.
The older specimens, viz., Sibbald’s male, 78, Ravin’s
42, and Schlegel’s, 40, and Van Breda of Ostend’s female,
82 feet long, havo tlie pectoral fin about | the length from
the head, and from 4 to -rV (probably as the inner or outer
edge IS measured) of the entire length o f the body, in
lengths, and the dorsal about the entire length from the
nose. I t would appear as if the middle of the body lengthened
more rapidly than the other parts as it grew, a t least
they o u n g females are shorter in proportion ; for Scoresby’s
female, 17 feet 6 inches. H unter’s, 17 feet, and one I measured
at Deptford, now in the British Museum, 14 feet
long, have the pectoral ra the r less than | the entire lengtli,
and the dorsal and vent only about o f the entire length,
fiom the chin, so that th e interspace between the pectoral
and dorsal must have doubled its length, while those fins
retained their original situations with regard to th e head
and tail.
Sibbald (Phalainologia Nova, 1 6 9 2 ) figures two specimens
of this genus caught on the coast o f Scotland. Ray
(Hist. Piscium, 1 7 ) notices these specimens ; and Brisson
and Liunæus have regarded them as separate species.
Linnæus designated the one with th e skin u nder the throat
dilated Balæna musculus, and the other, with this part
contracted and flat, B . Boops. Now, as I proved by the
examination o f the specimen we have in the British
Museum, when alive, and as M. Ravin observes (Ann. Sci.
Nat. V. 2 7 5 ) this skin is very dilatable, so th a t these characters
appear to depend on the manner in which the specimen
might lay when drawn. Ray, and after him Brisson
and Linnæus, established a third species, B . Physalus (S.
N. i. 1 8 6 ) on the Fin-fish of M arlons (Spitz. 1 2 5 , t. Q ,f.c )
copied E . M. t. 2 , f. 2 , which well represents our species ;
yet as there are no folds on the belly in th e figure, it has
been regarded by most authors as distinct from the B.
rostrata of Muller and H u n te r; b u t the name used by
Martens, which is the one now given by th e Greenland
whalers, to th e Wha le under consideration, I think a t once
shows th a t it properly belongs to th at species : and Martens
neither mentions the colour, nor says a word about
the belly; and Scoresby, who calls it B . gibbar, after
Bonnaterre, says from report th a t the “ skin is smooth, ex cept
about the sides o f the thorax, where longitudinal rugæ
or sulci occur,” which a t lea st must be a Balænoptera.
Lacepède formed the Fin-fish o f Martens, th e Hu n c h back
and Scrag Whale of Dudley, into a section, which he
calls Rorqual à ventre lisse. T h e Hunch-back has a
“ reeved” or plaited belly, and the Scrag Whale is shaped
like, and doubtless is, a true Balcena', y e t these species
are kept together in Fischer, aud other modern systematic
works : and Dr. Fleming has made Lacepede’s section
into a genus, under th e name of Physalis.
The skeleton o f the young “ Balæna Boops" (No. 1194,
Mus. Col. Siirg.) which formed p art o f the Hunterian collection,
and is probably the skeleton o f the B . rostrata
described by him (as the head is about 4 feet long, which
agrees with th e measurements o f his figure of. the auimal)
belongs to this species, and has the lower jaw s expanding
considerably beyond the nose of the sknll. Albers (Icon.
Anat. 1822, t. I j figures, under the name of B . Boops, the
skeleton o f a Whale cast ashore a t Vegisack near Bremen,
in 1669. The length was 29 feet; length of pectoral fin 3,
width o fta ii 9. Camper (Cetac. 74, t. 11, 12) figures the
sknll of this specimen. Cuvier says he corapai-ed this
skull with th e one from St. Marguerite’s, figured by Lace-
pede, and could see no différence between them. Alber’s
figures would lead to the idea th a t the lower jaw was scarcely
wider than the upper ; b u t tliis is corrected by Camper.
M. Cuvier’s Rorqual de la Mediterranée is founded on the
skull of a svhalc described by Lacepède (Cetac. t. 5—7)
which was stranded near the Isle of Marguerite in 1797.
Lacepède gives th e following measm-ement, viz., length, 60
fe et; l■ en8gtthh t' o the pectoral, 14 feet 6 in c h e s; from thence
to dorsal, 10 feet 9 in c h e s ; and from dorsal to caudal, 8
feet 9 in c h e s : b u t there must be some mistake, as this
makes only 34 feet. The pectoral was 5 feet long, and all
black. M. F. Cuvier regards this specimen as the type of
B . miiscuhts (Cetac. 334).
M. Van Beneden found by examining the ear-bone
brought from Island by M. Quoy, that it belonged to the
Rorqual de la M edileuanee o f Cuvier (see Ann. Sci. Nat. ii.
s. vi. 159), not knowing th a t this is the commonest species
o f th e North Sea.
M. F . Cuvier’s Cetacea also refers to the Mediterranean
Rorqual [B. musculus), a male Whale described by M.
Companyo, which was cast ashore near St. Cyprien, which,
from th e account o f the large size o f the lower jaw, must
belong to this species. I t was 25,060 meters (82 feet) en tire
length; the head 5,038 meters (16 feet); length o f p ectoral
2,010 (13 feel). It had 7 cervical, 14 dorsal, 15
lumbar, and about 25 caudal ve rte b ra , in all 61. I t was
dark gray, with the th ro at and the sides of the pectoral
■hite, the belly blue and white banded, pectoral grayish.
Dr. Knox notices a specimen of a Whale founidd oofflf N.
Berwick which was 80 feel long, the h e a d 23 feet and the
tail 20 feet wide from tip to tip (Edin. N. Phil. Jour. 1833,
181). The skeleton of this whale is now in Dr. Kn o x ’s
Museum, and is figured in Ja rd in e ’s ‘ Naturalist’s Library,’
vi. t. 5. Dr. Knox describes it as having 13 dorsal and 43
lumbar, sacral and caudal vertebra;, (Edin. N. Pliil. Joiini.
1834, 19
Dr. Knox examined a young Rorqual, 9 feet 11 inches
long, 3 feet from snout to ear, aud 4 feet 8 inches in girth.
a t the end o f the folds, wliich was cast ashore near Queens-
fen y , F rith of Forth, in 1834. H e considers it quite distin
c t from the Great Rorqual [B. Boops), because it has
only 11 dorsal, 36 lumbar, sacral and caudal vertebræ, but
he considers it the same as B . rostrata of 0 . Fabricius,
Hunter and Scoresby (Edin. N. Phil. Jour. 1834, 199). Dr.
Knox’s specimen is figured by Ja rd in e under the name of
the Lesser Rorqual (Nat. Lib. vi. t. 7). Schlegel (Fauna
Japon. 24, and Abhand. 44) refers to th is figure as a re p re sentation
of Balcenapiera antárctico, b u t I cannot think
correctly, for though the pectoral in the figures is larger in
proportion than they should be for a Balænoptera, they are
not of llie shape o f the fins o f Megapleræ, and the artist
of this work was more intent on making pre tty pictures
than accurate figures o f the animals, and has made the fins
of both the animal and skeleton o f the larger Rorquals too
large in proportion for the other parts o f the body, and
perhaps th e length o f the body is fore-shortened. The
figure in other respects is a pre tty accurate representation
of a young common Finner. I t is to be remarked that Dr.
Knox does not mention the length of the pectoral fins,
which h e would have done if it had been a Megaptera.
Dr. Knox found 8 distinct bristles arranged iu perpendicular
rows on the extremity o f the snout, in each jaiv,
(Knox, Edin. N. Phil. Journ, 1834) ; and Van Breda'says
there is a small tuft of 9 much-divided hairs, about a foot
long, and united by a membrane a t the base, observed at
the end o f the nose o f the specimen he described.
Pallas, under th e name o f B . Physalus, (Zool. Ross. As.
290), described a specimen o f this genus found in tbe Norlli