102 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



feet deep and ten broad ; of the baleen, there are about 

 three hundred laminse on each side, the longest of which 

 is about eighteen inches in length ; the lower measures 

 nearly fifteen feet, or one- third of the whole length of 

 the animal ; there are about two dozen sulci, and two 

 external blow-holes or sjnracles; the blubber measured 

 on the body only two or three inches in thickness, but 

 under the sulci none. This whale lives principally upon 

 a small species of salmon, which is denominated the 

 sahno arcticus, as well as on the argonautica arctica,* 

 and the ammodytes tobiansesf or lance. When in 

 the act of opening its mouth, it dilates the abdominal 

 plaits or furrows, which lie in pairs, and, on account of 

 the colour of their internal surface, present at this junc- 

 ture a beautiful spectacle ; the fore part of the belly as 

 if it was elegantly striped with red.! 



According to Mr. O'Reilly, the flnner is gregarious, 

 being found usually in herds from five to a dozen, and 

 they are at any distance easily to be distinguished by the 

 strength, elevation, and whiteness of the watery column 

 issuing from their blow-holes or spiracles. The blast of 

 the finner is forced directly upwards in a firm column of 

 more than ten feet, and with such an accompanying 



* This is a species of the sepia or clio, having a univalve shell, which 

 is spiral, involuted, membranaceous, and containing only one cell. " Rees's 

 Cyclopedia," vol. 2. 



t This forms a genus in the Linnean system, only one species of which 

 has heen hitherto discovered. The generic character is as follows : the 

 head compressed, narrower than the body; upper lip doubled, lower jaw 

 narrow and pointed ; sharp-pointed teeth ; gill] membrane of seven rays ; 

 body long and square ; tail fin distinct. This species is the tobianses of 

 Linnseus. — It inhabits the sandy shores of the Arctic Seas: it is usually 

 from nine to twelve inches in length, and of a silvery white colour, with 

 a greenish back. Rees, vol. 2. 



+ Shaw's " Zoology." vol.2., part. 2., p. 493. 



