9G 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



on the banks of the River Humber, about the middle of 

 September, 1750. The length of one of these whales 

 found dead in an inlet in Davis's Straits measured 105 

 feet, and its greatest circumference somewhat about 

 thirty-eight. The head was but small, when considered 

 in comparison with the common whale : the fins was 

 long and narrow, the tail being in breadth about twelve 

 feet, and was very finely formed. The baleen measured 

 four feet in length ; was thick in substance, but bristly 

 and narrow as regards its breadth. The blubber on the 

 surface of the body generally is about six or eight inches 

 thick, and of a very indifferent quality. This species of 

 whale is usually of a bluish-black colour on the back ; 

 and, on the abdomen, of a bluish-gray; the skin is 

 smooth, with the exception of the chest at the sides, 

 where there are several longitudinal rugae or folds. 



In the Zoological Museum at Bremen there is a 

 splendid skeleton of this species of whale. Professor 

 Peter Camper has ably illustrated the osseous structure 

 of this specimen, from which the annexed engraving of 

 the skull has been copied. 



CRANIUM OF THE B. GIBBAR. 



