98 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



Alloa, and on the opposite side of the river. The total 

 length of this animal was forty three feet ; its circum- 

 ference, where it was thickest, immediately behind the 

 swimming paws, was about twenty feet. It had a single 

 dorsal fin (if the horny protuberance on the back may 

 thus be called) two feet six inches high, and nearly the 

 same in breadth at the base — very diminutive, certainly, 

 when compared with the bulk of the animal's body. 

 This fin was placed very far down the back, about twelve 

 feet only from the extremity of the tail, and nearly over 

 the vent : it was of an acute triangular shape, blunt in 

 front, and sloping off to a thin edge behind, slightly 

 hooked, the curvature being towards the tail. From its 

 shape, the sailors engaged in whaling call it a pike. The 

 under jaw projected about three inches beyond the 

 upper ; it was nearly fourteen feet long, and somewhat 

 broader or wider than the upper jaw. 



In the upper jaw, there were two rows of short 

 baleen, the laminae of which were placed perpendicularly, 

 and very closely set together : the largest were in the 

 middle of the rows, and were only about eighteen inches 

 long. Each lamina was dark-coloured in the thickest 

 part, but became of a greenish or bluish-white colour 

 on the thin side, next the interior of the mouth, where 

 it separated into white hair or bristles : there might be 

 about three hundred on each side. 



The tongue was black, of great size, soft, and nearly 

 smooth. 



There were two blow-holes, long and narrow apertures 

 separated from each other only by a thin partition. 

 They were situated in the highest part of the upper jaw. 

 The eyes were placed on the sides of the head, a very 

 little way behind and above each angle or corner of the 

 mouth. From eye to eye, measuring across the head, 



