RORQUALS 161 



followed the ship in which he was a passenger for 

 no less than twenty-four consecutive days. In spite 

 of "volley after volley" of rifle shots and missiles of 

 all kinds the whale adhered to the ship, which caused 

 some anxiety, as it was feared that he might unship 

 the rudder or do other damage. The only harm that 

 happened was that the whale rose to "blow almost 

 into the cabin windows." 



Balcenoptera australis, the " Sulphur- Bottom" of 

 Antarctic whalers, is, according to von Haast, * 

 nothing more than B. musculus. A specimen which 

 he describes was thrown up about five miles from 

 Christchurch, New Zealand, and 67 feet in length. 

 As the creature was much injured by sharks, the 

 external characters could not be given with even an 

 approach to precision. But the skeleton seemed to 

 show clearly that there were no recognisable differ- 

 ences from Balffnoptera musculus. But then, as 

 already said, two quite different species might con- 

 ceivably have a quite similar skeleton, showing their 

 specific difference only in colour and other outward 

 features. 



The genus MEGAPTERA is distinguished by the 

 following assemblage of characters : Dorsal fin not 

 very prominent ; throat plaits fairly numerous ; scapula 

 with no marked acromion or coracoid process; pectoral 

 fin very elongate. 



* " Notes on a Skeleton of Balcenoptera australis, Desmoulins, the 

 Great Southern Rorqual or ' Sulphur-Bottom ' of Whalers," Proc. Zool. 

 Soc., 1883, p. 592. 



M 



