114 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



of the Society of Saint Andrew ; to Mons. Aime Lie- 

 baert, president of the Royal Society of Rhetoric, who 

 also received from the same gentleman the fourth medal, 

 which had been offered as a prize to the musical depart- 

 ment of the Society. 



This genus is found not to remain so much to the 

 northward as the common Greenland whale (B. mysti- 

 cetus), inasmuch as I have already stated its occasional 

 occurrence in the seas about Great Britain, Ireland, 

 Norway, and other nations near the Arctic Seas ; it has 

 also been found in the Mediterranean, near the Straits 

 of Gibraltar. The proportion of oil which whales of 

 this genus and species furnish is not to be compared 

 with that supplied from the baleena mysticetus ; and 

 the baleen, or whalebone, from its smallness, is not so 

 valuable. These circumstances, together with its great 

 velocity, make this species a matter of indifference to 

 the whalers, who rarely attempt its capture. This pro- 

 tuberance, in conjunction with a series of longitudinal 

 furrows from the throat to the anus, points out the indi- 

 viduals possessing them as either of the kind called pike- 

 headed whale, or rorquals. Both kinds are discovered 

 near the 75th degree of north latitude. The rorqual 

 subsists principally upon herrings and smaller fish, and 

 its consumption of these must be immense, when we 

 consider its vast size. 



The back of this whale, when captured, was of a 

 blackish hue, and the belly white. The lower jaw is less 

 pointed than those of the other cetacea, which is also a 

 distinguishing mark of this species. The eye is situated 

 near the opening of the posterior part of the lips ; and 

 as the condyles (knobs which fit into sockets at joints) of 

 the lower jaw are very high, so that the top of the head 

 is almost on a level with the neck ; the visual organs are 



