RORQUALS 155 



referred by Gray under this specific heading. For 

 the latter measured 102 feet (! !) ; it is probably 

 a B. sibbaldii. As to colour, I give Professor 

 Collett's statements under this head as a part of the 

 specific definition. But Sir William Flower, in de- 

 scribing a specimen stranded near the mouth of 

 the river Crouch, in Essex, quotes Mr. Carrington to 

 the effect that the whale within two days of its 

 capture was "a rich glossy black, which shaded into 

 a brilliant white on the underparts." 



But little of this whale was known until the 

 establishment of a whale factory at Sorvaer, near 

 Hammerfest, in 1882. The main object of this es- 

 tablishment was the capture of the great Balanoptera 

 sibbaldii, which, as the largest, is the most valuable of 

 the Rorquals. But the present species proved to be 

 the commoner of the two. It had been thought to be 

 a rare whale. Up to and including 1884 but nine 

 individuals had been stranded on the European coasts. 

 When the actual fishery began as many as forty 

 whales were taken in 1883, and forty-four in 1885. 

 The intervening year produced but three. This 

 whale goes about in shoals ; Collett mentions thirteen 

 and five as numbers of individuals in such companies. 

 But it appears that as many as fifty is the limit in size 

 of these shoals. Balcenoptera borealis is inoffensive 

 in character, and accidents are the result of " acci- 

 dent," as is generally the case with whalebone whales, 

 excepting only the fierce Rhachianectes. Under the 

 description of the Right whale the time that it can 

 remain under water is given as a little over one hour 



