222 Zoology and Comparative Anatomy 



and fit for exhibition. For this purpose the carpenters com- 

 menced on the 14th of January the construction of the 

 pavilion for its reception, the same now at Charing Cross. 



When completed, M. Kessels, with the greatest Hberality, 

 gave several grand entertainments to the scientific men of the 

 town, as well as to the workmen who had been employed, 

 and likewise to the poor of the town ; in fact, there were 

 several days of great rejoicings. Medals of gold were pre- 

 sented from M. Kessels, by the governor, the burgomaster, 

 and by Lieutenant-colonel Dufrenery, commandant of the 

 place, to the heads of the following Societies : — To M. Jacques 

 de Ridder, as president of the Royal Society of Saint Sebas- 

 tien; to M. Philippe de Brock, president of the Society of Saint 

 Andrew; to M. Aime Liebaert, president of the Royal 

 Society of Rhetoric, who also received from the same gentle- 

 man the fourth medal, which had been offered as a prize to 

 the musical department of the Society. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE WHALE GENUS. 



Naturalists of the present day divide these animals into two 

 genera ; viz. those which are without the dorsal fin form the 

 true ^alae^nae ; while those possessing it ar^, as already stated, 

 placed by Count Lacepede in the second genus, and deno- 

 minated the Balaenoptera. 



The Rorqual belongs to the second genus, and may be 

 arranged as follows : «— 



Class, Maramalia. Order, Cetacea. Tribe, -ffalae^nEe. 

 Genus, Balaenoptera. Species, Rorqual. 



This genus is found not to remain so much to the north- 

 ward as the common Greenland whale {B. ik/ysticetns), 

 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 pro- 

 portion of oil which whales of this genus and species fur- 

 nish is not to be compared with that supplied from the 

 jBalas^ia ikfystic^tus ; and the baleen, or whalebone, from 

 its smallness, is not so valuable. These circumstances, toge- 

 ther with its great velocity, make this species a matter of in- 

 difference to the whalers, who rarely attempt its capture. 

 This protuberance, 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 consump- 

 tion of these must be immense, when we consider its vast size. 



