The Scottish Naturalist. 105 



So far as I can make out, it has been recognized six times only ; 

 twice on the Scandinavian coast ; one stranded at the mouth 

 of the Elbe, in 1824; another found floating dead in the sea off 

 Revel, in 1851 ; and another stranded in the estuary of the 

 Dee, in 1863. The skeleton of this individual is preserved in 

 the Derby Museum in Liverpool. Another example of this 

 species was thrown ashore about two miles north of Berwick on 

 the 19th September, 1829. This specimen was described by 

 Dr. George Johnston, * who states that it was between 35 and 

 36 feet in length, the circumference at the thickest part 24 feet, 

 and the pectoral fins 9 feet in length. Lilljeborg, t who also 

 describes this species, states that, according to Holboll and 

 Eschricht, it attains to a length of 55 to 60 feet, and that the 

 latter author considers it the most common of all the whale-bone 

 whales in Davis Strait during the summer. It is said to go south 

 in winter, and that " when near the coasts it generally feeds upon 

 Osmerus arcticus, Gadus agilis, Ammodytes tobianus, and Li ma- 

 rina arctica, and the smaller crustaceans." The contents of the 

 stomach of the Berwick specimen were of a somewhat different 

 nature from this. It contained, according to Johnston, " six 

 cormorants, and another in the throat, so that it was presumed 

 the whale had been choked in the attempt to swallow the 

 bird." 



BAL^INOPTEIIA. MUSCTJLTJS (Physalus antiquorum Gray).— 



The Razorback. 



This appears to be the commonest of all fin-whales. It has 

 been stranded and found dead at sea on the European coast 

 oftener than any other species of baleen whale. It has likewise 

 occurred pretty frequently on the North-East of Scotland. As 

 a species, it ranks amongst the largest of the whale family, 

 and of course is one of the largest animals in existence. Dr. 

 Gray j states that the British Museum specimen is said to have 

 been 102 feet long. This is very likely considerably exagge- 

 rated; at any rate, the majority of examples of which we have 

 any description do not attain to near that length, but range 



* Trans, of the Nat. Hist. Soc. of Northumberland, Durham, &c., vol. I., 1831. 



f Cetaceous Mammalia of Scandinavia, Ray Society, 1868. 



X Cat. of Seals and Whales, 1866. 



