WHALING IN SCOTLAND 13 



of B. borealis for the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, 

 but during the month they were near us the foetuses were all too 

 large. In this they seem different from B. musculns, the foetuses of 

 which vary greatly in size. 



The baleen of the Seihval is fringed with soft silky hair of a 

 dirty white colour. It is valuable, the present market price being 

 j>TS to * IO a ton - That from B. musculus being ^27 : los. 

 The smaller size of the Seihval makes it less valuable than the 

 Finner, probably two Seihvals are equal in value to one Finner. In 

 one thing it is superior : the beef is excellent, like veal, and cooked 

 as veal cutlets one can hardly tell the difference, only the whale is 

 richer. 



The same hairs occur on the jaws in both B. musculus and 

 borealis. B. borealis has a peculiar parasite attached to the stomach, 

 I was told, but it may have been taken from the intestine near the 

 stomach, small red and white objects like tiny sausages. These 

 Dr. Harmer considers are Echinorhynchus turbinella, and there is 

 also Echinorhynchus porrigens, Rudolphi. One whale had received 

 an injury to the snout, the end of which had been battered in, but 

 had healed, leaving a concavity. In this were some barnacles, 

 Conchoderma aurita ; they were growing close to and among the 

 coarse hairs which grow at the end of the upper jaw. 



The following are the lengths of the biggest of these whales 

 killed, in feet : 



Norrona Bulls 45, 45, 42, 42, Cows 47, 45, 45, 44 



Shetland 47, 46, 45, 44, 47, 47, 47, 46 



Alexandra 46, 47, 46, 44, 48, 46, 46, 46 



Olna ,, 56, 50, 50, 50, 57, 52, 52, 50 



The last station got some whales of unusual length. 



BAL/ENA BISCAYENSIS \_ = B. australis\ 



The Buneveneader station was the only one to get any of the 

 Atlantic Right whales. Four bulls and two cows. The length and 

 then the girth is given- 

 Bulls . . 37x23,51x40,48x38,52x39 

 Cows . . 48 x 37, 52 x 39 



Hjort gives the length as up to 50 feet, and the whalebone from 

 5 to 7 feet. 



The whalebone of the above is given as from 2 to 8 feet in 

 length, and is valuable. These whales are called Nordcaper in 

 Norway. The only other specimen I have heard of was got in 

 1903 by a Faroe whaler 50 miles west of Shetland ; so far as I know 

 no more have been got near Shetland than this one, unless the 

 Faroe whalers have got any, for they often " fish " in Shetland waters. 



