246 



BA RD WICKE 'S S CIENCE ■ G OS SIP. 



This species may be known by its low dorsal fin, 

 black baleen, and long flippers, which are black above 

 and whitish below : as it is said to be frequently 

 ■met with in the neighbourhood of Iceland, its 

 occasionally straying into our latitude is not at all 

 improbable. 



Rudolph's Rorqual [Balcenoptera laticcps, J. E. 

 Gray) is a small species which may be mistaken for 

 the lesser Rorqual. A whale stranded at Charmouth 

 in 1840 is believed to have been of this species, but 

 the skeleton, although prepared at the time, is sup- 

 posed to have been sold and converted into manure. 

 Very little is known about the history or distribution 

 of this species ; the flippers are entirely black above, 

 wanting the white band found in the next species, 

 and the baleen is believed to be black. 



The next and last of the Whalebone-whales which 

 "we know to have occurred in the British seas is the 

 Lesser Rorqual {Balcenoptera rostrata. Fab.), 

 (fig. 180). Many individuals of this species have 

 been obtained on various parts of the coast, from 

 Cornwall to the north of Scotland. On the coast of 

 Norway it is frequently met with, and is there called 

 the "Bay-whale," from its habit of entering bays 

 and estuaries ; this habit the natives take advantage of 



for its destruction. Stretching a strong net across the 

 inlet, they cut off its escape, and put a cruel and often 

 protracted end to its existence with harpoons and arrows, 

 the poor whale sometimes lingering from eight to four- 

 teen days. This species is also known as the "Summer 

 Whale," and does not appear to be so strictly a 

 northern species as the Balrenoptera generally are : it 

 is believed, like the Common Rorqual, to have been 

 taken in the Mediterranean. The Lesser Rorqual 

 may be known at once by its small size (not exceeding 

 30 feet), and by the bi-oad white band across its black 

 flipper ; the baleen also is nearly white, which is 

 another good distinction. The figure of this species 

 is from an article by Messrs. Carte and Macalister, on 

 the Anatomy of Balcenoptera rostrata, in the " Philo- 

 sophical Transactions of the Royal Society *' for 1868, 

 vol. clviii. 



In the following table I have endeavoured to give 

 the most striking external peculiarities of our British 

 Mystacoceti. They are easily remembered, and may 

 be useful in identifying specimens should no authority 

 be at hand ; it also indicates the points to be observed 

 by a i^erson not acquainted with this class of animals, 

 as most serviceable to enable others to identify 

 doubtful specimens. 



TABLE OF DIFFERENCES OF BRITISH MYSTACOCETI (Whalebone Whales). 



