of the Skeleton of Balcendpteva Rorqual. 221 



However, from its possessing the longitudinal folds extending 

 from the throat towards the middle of the trunk, it was indi- 

 cated to be either a Rorqual, or the Finner of the whalers : 

 the latter is the pike -headed whale of Pennant. Various 

 reasons decided it to belong to the former species ; but every 

 work by professed naturalists exhibited contrary opinions. 

 Even the illustrious Cuvier himself was in error, inasmuch as 

 he states that all Cetacea with folds belong to one and the same 

 species ; whereas, according to Count Lacepede, the dorsal 

 fin proved it to belong to the second class of the whale genus, 

 which he has named Balsenoptera. 



Towards the end, of November, 1827, M. Kessels went 

 to Paris, where he consulted Baron Cuvier, and returned with 

 Messrs. Dubar and Paret, the latter an eminent amateur 

 naturalist, on the 20th of December. They had exhibited 

 to this zoologist the whole of the dra wrings which had been 

 taken of the animal; and he informed them that the Balae- 

 noptera Rorqual and the Balaenoptera Juhai'tes, which 

 Lacepede and other naturalists had described as two spe- 

 cies, were only one and the same ; as their distinguishing 

 characters were so trifling that they might be easily con- 

 founded with each other. However, M. Dubar, notwith- 

 standing this opinion, determined on considering it a Rorqual 

 in the work which he published on this subject. To what- 

 ever species the individual specimen in question belongs, it 

 is doubtless the largest animal that has ever been captured, 

 and I do not hesitate to say that the skeleton is the most 

 perfect in Europe. 



The following measurements will give the reader some idea 

 of the bulk of this animal : — 



Total length of animal, 95 ft. ; breadth, 18 ft. Length of the head, 

 22 ft. J length of the lower jaw-bones each, 22 ft. ; height of the skull, 

 4| ft. Length of the spine, 69i ft. ; number of bones composing it, 54. 

 Length of ribs, 9 ft.; number (14 on each side), 28. Length of the fins, 

 12i ft. Length of the fingers, 4^ ft. Width of the tail, 22^ ft. ; length of 

 the tail, 3 ft. '■ 



Weight of the animal when found, 249 tons, or 480,000 lbs. 



Weight of the skeleton, only 35 tons, or 70,000 lbs. ; being a little less 

 than one seventh of the entire bulk. 



Quantity of oil extracted from the blubber, 4000 gallons, or 40,000 lbs. 



Weight of the rotten flesh buried in the sand, 85 tons, or 170,000 lbs. 



The dissection of this animal commenced under the super- 

 intendence of Dr. Dubar, on the 14th of November; in the 

 presence of a great number of medical and other scientific 

 men. The workmen were sixty-two in number, who were 

 employed both day and night ; they constructed a wooden 

 house close to the spot. By the 1 9th the skeleton was dissected 

 out, and deposited in a place prepared for that purpose ; but it 

 was not untilthe 20th of April, 1828, that it was articulated, 



