108 The Scottish Naturalist. 



the " adolescent," as the disunited epiphyses of the anterior 

 caudal vertebras, now before me, clearly show. 



The late Dr. Cook read a communication to the Literary and 

 Philosophical Society of St. Andrews, on an individual of this 

 species, which went ashore in a dying state, near Aberdeen, on 

 the 1 8th December, 1847. It was from 46 to 48 feet long; the 

 greatest circumference about 30 feet; and the longest baleen 

 did not exceed 14 inches in length. 



BAL^JNOPTEHA SIBBALDII (Physalus Sibbaldii Gray). 



This is a somewhat critical species to meddle with, more espe- 

 cially as scarcely any two zoologists appear to entertain the 

 same opinion relative to which whales should, and which should 

 not, be assigned to it. According to the investigation of Prof. 

 Van Beneden,* four species only of Balamoptera inhabit the 

 North Atlantic. Whatever amount of probability there may be 

 in this, it will be sufficient for our present purpose to state that, 

 in the arrangement proposed by him, he considers B. rostrata as 

 one species, and unites B. borealis Cuv., and B. laticeps Gray, into 

 another. His next species embraces B. musculus (Physalus 

 antiquorum Gray), and B. gigas Eschr., and the last includes 

 P. Sibbaldii Gray, B. latirostris Flower, and B. Carolina Malm. 

 Dr. Gray, t on the other hand, adds B. gigas Eschr., to his 

 Sibbaldus borealis, and in this species, amongst others, he in- 

 cludes the celebrated Ostend whale. This whale, however, 

 Prof. Turner J seems to think — and in this I consider he is in 

 all likelihood right — will likely prove to be the same species as 

 his Longniddry whale, which he names Balcenoptera Sibbaldii 

 (Physalus Sibbaldii Gray). The Ostend whale has had various 

 names, as well as sizes, ascribed to it. .Indeed, both are nearly 

 as numerous as its describers. Dubar states 105 feet long; Dr. 

 Gray, 102 feet ; Van Breda gives 84 feet ; Van Benden, 80 feet ; 

 Dewhurst,§ who describes both the whale and its skeleton (the 

 latter he had examined personally), states that the total length 

 of the animal was 95 feet. He called it B. rorqual, or Broad- 

 nosed Whale, and states that "in Iceland it is called the Steipe 



♦Bull, de l'Acad. Roy. de Belgique, t. xxvii., 1869. 



t Cat. Seals and Whales. % Trans, of the Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxvi. pt. 1. 



§ Nat Hist, of the Cetacea. 



