lü
the species. H e h a s found most distinc t characters o f the
■lecies in th e fonnatiou o f the bones o f th e neck, th e ribs,
- colour o f th e body, and the arms.
? Great Northern Rorqual, A'no.f. Ja rd in e , N at. Lib.
■ 6 , skeleton.
The ac count o f this genus, iu th e former p a rt o f this
pape r, was only derived from the examination o f a single
specimen, and the comparison of the descriptions and
remarks o f preceding authors. Since that time, by th e ex amination
o f Professor E sch ric h t’s pape r, and iiorn p e rsonal
communication with him, and th e examination of
the several skeletons o f this genus, in different collections,
I am satisfied th at there are several d istin c t species which
may be th u s distinguished.
Rorqual de la Mediterranea, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. 370, t
26, f . 5, skull.
* The pec toral, th e dorsal, f the length fr o m the nose.
Vertebræ, 46 or 48, lateral process o f second vertebra
r ing-like. Balænoptera.
P ik e W h a l e . Balænopte ra rostrata.
Tab . 2. Skull, t. \ , f 5. Baleen.
Balæ na rostrata, M u lle r , Prod. O. Fah. Faun. Groen. 40.
H u n te r , P h il. Trans. Ixxvii. t. 20—23, cop. F . m. t.
R orqualus rostratus, De ka y, Zool. N ew York Mu s 730
t. 8 0 , / 1.
B . musculus, p a r t. Flem. B . A. 30.
B. Boops, p a r t, Flem. B . A. 31.
Balænopte ra acuto-rostrata, Lacep. Scoresby. A rct Rea
i. 485, t. 1 3 , / 2.
Balænoptera microcephala, B ra n d t.
R orqualus minor, K n o x , J a rd in e , N a t. L ib. 142, t. 7.
B. borealis rostrata, Fischer, S yn . s. 25.
B. Boops, Cat. Col. Surg. .171, }t. 1,199, skeleton.
R orqualus Boops, F. Ctiv. Cetac, 321, t. 20.
B alænoptera Physalus, Gray, I. c. 18.
Vaagekral, F sch rich t's Danish Acad. x i. t. 1, 2, and
p. 286—299. Foetus a n d anat.
Black, beneath reddish white. P ectoral fin, while near
th e base above, Baleen, broadly triangular, “ white,” Fab.
“ White and short,” K n o x .—Length, 20—30 feet.
In hab. North Sea. New York Bay, iTa//. Valognes,
France, Geoffroy. Greenland, called T ikagiilik. Norway,
called Vaagekval.
Scoresby says, “ the Baleen o f the S pilzbergen specimen
i s th in , fibrous, o f a yellowish white colour, and semitransparent,
almost like lantern-horn,” Arct. Reg. i. 486.
T h e Greenland skull here figured, is 46 6 inches long,
28'0 a t the beak, 23'0 inches wide a t th e orbit, 15'6 a t the
notch, and 10-6 in the middle of the nose. The nose is
ra th e r wider in proportion th an in tbe skull o f the whale
figured by Cuvier, Oss. Fos. v. t. 26, f . 1, 2, 3. The nose of
the skull is elongate triangular, with straight regularly converging
sides, not quite twice as long as the width a t the
Balæna anliquorum, Fisher, Sgn. 525.
Bcüænoptcra m usculus, F. Cuv. Cetac. 335. F schricht's
MSS. (not Linn).
Baleiu de Sainte Cyprien, Companyo Mem. 4to, 1830,
Carcassonne and Farines Mem. F. Cuv. I. c. 337.
? Balæna rostrata. Rud o lp h i, Abhand, K . Akad. Berlin.
1822, 27, t. 1 - 5 . Skeleton, &c., (31 feet).
? B. Boops, Albers, Ivon, A n a t. t. 1, (skeleton, 29 feet)
Camper ate, 74, t. 11, 13. Skull.
Slate-gray, beneath whitish. Baleen slate-coloured, under
edge blackish, in n e r edge pale streaked.
Inhab. North Sea. Berwick, 1831, D r . King. Hamburg,
Rudolphi. Coast o f Hampshire, 1842. Skeleton
a t Black-gang Chine.
Its colour is a pale bluish black or dark bluish gray, in
which it resembles the suckling of B . mysticetus, [Act.
Reg. 479). Bluish black on th e back, bluish gray on
notch.
Pec toral f i n dorsal f i n | , the length fr om the nose;
back gray. Vertebræ, 54, lateral process o f nuchal vertebra
r in g -like [pierced). Physalus.
T h e R a z o r B a c k . Balænoptera antiquorura.
R azor-back o f the Whalers. “ B. Physalus, L in n . B.
Gibbar, Lacep."— Scoresby, Arct. Reg. t. 479.
th e belly. Baleen, 4 feet long, thick, bristly an d narrow.
L en g th 105 feet, fins, long and narrow. Act. Reg. 481.
T here is a nearly perfect skeleton o fth is species (which
I have lately visited in company w ith Professor Eschricht)
exhibited at Black-gang Chine, the Isle o f Wight, which
was caught in April, 1842, n ea r the Needles. Tt was, when
first found, dark gray above, and whitish beneath.
T h e Baleen is slate-coloured with white streaks, on the
near or in n e r side ; nearly black and with a few darker
streaks near tho outer or straight side. I t was 75 feet long.
The skull is 16 feet 7 inches long, 5 feet wide a t the notch,
and th e edge o f the beak from the n o tch is 12 feet long.
The low e rjaw , 16 feet 9 inches ; the upper arm-bone, 2
feet, an d the larger fore-arm bone is 33 inches long. In
this skeleton, the scapula and the chest-bones are wrongly
placed, and the bonesof the carpus and finger; and the lower
processes o f the vertebræ as well as some of the smaller parts
o f the head are deficient. There are seven cervical vertebræ;
the first, very broad, with a very large lateral process, on
each side pierced with a hole near the body ; the second
is higher th an it ; and the three following have a ring-like
or pierced lateral process, which Professor E sch ric h t re gards
as one of the b est characters o f the species. There
are 14 thorac ic vertebræ. The ribs are lo n g ; the first,
simple, shortish and broadish, the rest almost o f equal size
a n d length, the la s t being very nearly as long as the others.
The lumbar vertebræ are fifteen, with considerably thicker
bodies than the others. Caudal vertebræ eighteen, ex clusive
o f those contained in the fin o f the tail, which is
preserved entire.
Professor Esch ric h t has two heads o f this species at
Copenhagen from Greenland. There is a head and some
vertebra- a t Paris, and some vertebræ a t Berlin, and the St.
Cyprian specimen, which was a t Lyons in 1835.
M. Cuvier refers the drawing made from a specimen
caught a t Isle St. Marguerite, near Cannes, in March, 1797,
which is engraved by Lacepède, [Cetac. t. '5), to this specie
s; it was 60 feet long. The u p p e r p a r t,a n d pectoral fin,
are represented as black with gray reflections, and beneath
while, Lacepède, #. 6 & 7 ; and Cuvier, Oss. Foss. i. 26,
f . 5, represents th e head o f this specimen.
M. Companyo described the animal as deep slate-gray,
the throat and lateral p a rt o f th e pec toral fin glistening
white. Vertebræ 60, th e 15 lumbar are very large. The
skeleton was a t Lyons iu 1835.
From th e form of the first vertebræ in the figure, I am
inclined to believe th a t Kn o x ’s Great Rorqual belongs to
this species.
The colour o f Albert and Rudolphis specimen is not
stated, but they differ from H u n te r’s and Knox’s account
of the B . rostrata, in having 34 & 8-5 lumbar and caudal
vertebræ. Professor E s ch ric h t considers Albert’s specimen
the same as H u n te r’s. I have in the te x t (p. 20), regarded
Rudolphi’s specimen as the type o f a species
which I have called B . laticeps. I t may be only a synonyma
of B . rostrata, b u t the skeleton requires to be compared.
Inhab. North Sea. Scotland, Sibbald, Neil. Ostend,
Van Breda.
T h e description in J a rd in e , is compiled from the a c counts
of K nox, Scoresby and L ac epède; and henc e in cludes
several species.
Var. “ Black above, beneath white. P ectoral black.
Dorsal an d caudal with white scar on th e edge. Baleen
o f the first p a r t o f the series, wdiite ; o f the rest, blackish
blue, the colour changing suddenly from one to the other.
Balenoptera à bee. R a v in . A n n . Sci. N a t. x. 266, / . I I ,
XV. 837, i. 9, young male.
In h ab . coast o f F ranc e, Somme,” R avin.
*** Pectoral f i n dorsal J in | , th e length fr o m nose.
B a c k black, lateral process o f two nu ch a l vertebra en tire.
Vertebrce, 62, 64. Rorqualus.
T h e Boops. Balænopte ra Boops.
1. Balæna tripenni quæ rostrum acutum habet, S ib bald,
Paloeog. 29, t. \ , f . D.
Pike-headed Whale, Pen n . B. Zool. iii. 40.
B. Boops, L in n . S. N . i. 106. B. borealis Var.
Fisher, Syn. 524.
Balæuoptera jubarte s, Lacep.
2. Balæna tripenni que maxillura inferiorem rotundi
&c. Sibbald, Palæog. 83, t. 3. [Fdit. 1792), 78, t. 3,
R o u n d - l in n f td W h n lf> .ho
T h e S o u t h e r n F in n e r . B alænopte ra australis.
Lesson, [Tab. Reg. Anim. i. 202), gives th e name of
Balænoptera ausU-alis, to the “ Fin-bac k o f the Whalers
o f th e South Sea.” I t is not possible to know if he intends
this species or th e Megapteron Poeskop.
Th ere has lately been imported from New Zealand a
quantity of finner-fins which are all yellowish white ; thi.'«
doubtless indicates a different species, which may be called
Balænoptera antárctica. I have also received from Mr.
Smith, specimens of what is called in trade B a h a i Finner.
This Baleen is black, the fibres on the edge o f the larger
fins are purplish brown, an d o f the smaller or terminal
ones paler brown. They are 35 inches long by 11¿- inches
wide ; and the smaller, 10 inches long, and 4 inches wide
a t th e base. This is so different in appearance from the
other Baleen o f this genus, that I propose to call it Balæ-
noptera Brasiliensis.
M e g a p t e r o n .
Round-lipped Whale, P en n a n t, Quad. iii. 42. ’
cuius, L in n . S. N . i. 106. B.B. muscii..._, _ borealis musculus,
Fisher, Syn. 524.
B. rorqual, Lacep.
3. Fin-whale, N eil, Wern. Trans. I (1811), 201.
Balffina sulcata. Wa lk e r , M S S . ? N eil, We rn. Trans.
i. 212.
Balfena sulcata arctica, Schlegel, Veshand Nederl.
Ins. i. 1828, /. 1, 2. Abhand, t. 6.
4. Baleinoptere d’ Ostende, Van der L in d e n . Balcenop-
iere B ru x e ll, 1828. Dubar. Osteographia, 8;c. B ru x .
1828, t. Van B red a en letter bode, 1827, 341. ScharfT s
drawing o f Ostend Whale, t. copied.
GreatNorthe rnRorqual,.R. borealis, Le&sow," Ja rd in e,
N a t. L ib. 125, /. 5, from Scharff.
B. borealis, Fisher S yn . 524.
Above, black ; beneath, w h itish ; pectoral, i the len g th ;
black, above. “ Baleen, black,” Sibbald.
Lengih .... 78 feet.
Pectoral 10
Professor Esch rich t, in th e Danish Transaction.«, has
given another figure of this species, and a very detailed
account o f its anatomy and development, greatly founded
on the examination o f the fcetus.
black, where the epidermis had separated;
„.^• 1a/ i'ound the_.siCexAuuaali ppaarntss wwhiiiutee.. iELniida 0o1f ttnhee nnoossee
wiui a small tuft of 9 much-divided hairs, connected bv
a membrane a t the base.”
H e considers it as th e B . Boops of 0 . Fabricius. I t is
the most common Greenland Whale, and, he believes, the
Bermuda Wha le is the same species, and th a t it migrates
from Greenland to Bermuda, according to the season ; and
he cannot find any sufficient distinction in the skeleton of
the Cape specimen in the P aris Museum, to separate it as
a species from the Greenland examples.
In the P aper th a t Professor E s ch ric h t has in the press,
he has figured the dorsal fin o f this genus, and shows that
it is more properly a bunch, as Dudley calls it, than a fin.
The first rib is forked a t the end near the vertebra.
Brandt, in th e list o f Altaian animals [Voy. All. Orient.
1845, 4to), has adopted this opinion, and formed a section
for Balænoptera longimana, which he calls Boops,
merely characterized as “ P ectoral elongate.”
Th e foetal specimens exhibit numerous rudimentary
tee th in both jaws. Th ese are figured by Fschricht,
Danish Trans, iv. /. 4 , / a, b, from specimens, 85 and 45
inches long.
J o h n s t o n ’s H u m p - b a c k . Megapteron longimana.
Professor E s ch ric h t has no doubt th at Balæna Boops
# 1