Bal.enoptera. MAMMALIA. CETACEA. 31 



broadest part. The baleen (or whalebone) was 3 feet in length. From the 

 snout to the eyes 13 feet 2 inches — from the angle of the mouth to the pec- 

 toral swimmers 6 feet 5 inches; these were 10 feet long, and 2 4 feet where 

 broadest. Dorsal fin 3 feet long, 2 feet high, and distant from the middle of 

 the tail 12 feet 10 inches. From the lower jaw to the navel, the skin on the 

 belly was regularly folded. Tail 184 feet wide. This individual had been 

 known to the fishermen for twenty years, in its pursuits after the herring, 

 and termed by them Hollie Pike, in consequence of the dorsal fin having been 

 perforated by a bullet. 



The animal killed in Scalpa Bay, November 14. 1808, of which Mr Scores- 

 bv gives a figure and description from the notes of the late James Watson, 

 Esq. of Orkney, seems, from its dimensions, to have been a young animal. 

 The remarkable gibbosity of the lower jaw expressed in the figure, and which 

 corresponds tolerably well with Sibbald's delineation, leads me to consider it 

 as the Musculus. " Its length was 174 feet; circumference 20. Length from 

 the snout to the dorsal fin 1 2 4 feet ; from the snout to the pectoral fins 

 5 feet; from the snout to the eye 34 feet ; and from the snout to the blow- 

 holes 3 feet. Pectoral fins 2 feet long, and 7 inches broad; dorsal fin 15 

 inches long by 9 inches high ; tail 15 inches long by 44 feet broad. Largest 

 whalebone about 6 inches." 



According to Low (Nat. Hist. Oread, p. 158.), they are seen in the Ork- 

 ney seas in July and August, when herring and mackerel are abundant. And 

 Dr Walker states (Essays, p. 529.), that they yearly frequent Loch Fyne 

 during the herring season. 



45. B. Boops. Sharp-lipped Whale. — Snout pointed. 



De Balaena tripinni quae rostrum acutum habet, et plicas in ventre, Sibb. 



Phal. 68. tab. i. lowest figure B. B. Linn. Syst. i. 106 — B. rostrata, 



Hunter, Phil. Trans. 1787, p. 373. tab. xx — Fin-Whale, Weill, Wern. 

 Mem. i. p. 201. 

 The specimen described by Sibbald, which came ashore in November 1690 

 near Burntisland in the Frith of Forth, was 46 feet in length, and 20 in cir- 

 cumference. The pectoral swimmers were 5 feet from the eye, and the dor- 

 sal fin 84 from the tail. From the navel to the snout 24 feet. Breadth of 

 the tail 9 feet. The lower jaw, near the middle, was 4 feet in breadth, with 

 a thickened margin. Tongue 5 feet long, and near the root 3 feet in breadth. 

 The blow-holes were 6 feet 8 inches from the snout. The length of the gape 

 10 feet. Eyes 3 feet from the blow-holes. The swimmers were 5 feet long, 

 and 14 broad. 



The individual examined by Hunter was caught on the Doggerbank, 

 and was 17 feet long. Upper jaw, from eye to eye, 1 foot 8 inches; lower 

 jaw 2 feet 6 inches. It had 7 vertebrae in the neck, 12 which may be reckoned 

 to the back, and 27 to the tail, making 46 in the whole. The sternum was 

 flat, and of one bone, to which the first rib was articulated. There were 300 

 lamina? of baleen, the greatest length of which was 5 inches, and the two jaws 

 met every where along their surface. The stomach consisted of five bags, 

 the two first being the largest. The duodenum had longitudinal rugae or 

 valves. Furnished with a caecum. In the stomach were found the remains 

 of the dog-fish. Tongue little raised, having scarcely any lateral edges. 



In a male fin-whale examined by Mr Neill, and which came ashore at Alloa 

 on the banks of the Forth, the length was 43 feet, and the greatest circumfe- 

 rence 20. Swimmers 5 feet long, and 1 broad. Dorsal fin 24 feet high, and 

 nearly of the same breadth at the base, seated nearly over the vent, and about 

 12 feet from the extremity of the tail, the last being 10 feet broad. Under 

 jaw 14 feet long, 3 inches longer than the upper, and a little wider. There 

 were about 300 laminae of baleen on each side, the largest 18 inches long. 

 Distance from eye to eye 7 feet. Mr Neill mentions having examined a MS. 

 account of another whale, by the late Dr Walker, which was cast ashore at 



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