50 



the species. He has found most distinct characters of the 

 species in the formation of the bones of the neck, the ribs, 

 the colour of tlie body, and the arms. 



The account of this genus, in the former part of this 

 paper, was only derived from the examination of a single 

 specimen, and the comparison of the descriptions and 

 remarks of preceding authors. Since that time, by the ex- 

 amination of Professor Eschricht's paper, and from per- 

 sonal communication with him, and the examination of 

 the several skeletons of this genus, in diiferent collections, 

 I am satisfied that there are several distinct species which 

 may be thus distinguished. 



* The pectoral, ^, the dorsal, f the length from the nose. 

 Vertebra, AG or 48, lateral process of second vertebra 

 ring-like. Bala;noptera. 



Pike Whale. Balsenoptera rostrata. 

 Tab. 2. Skull, t. 1,/. 5. Baleen. 



'QaXsana.rosiTdXdi, Midler, Prod. O. Fab. Faun. Groen. 40. 

 Hunter, Phil. Trans. Ixxvii. t. 20—23, cop. E. m. t. 



Rorqualus rostratus, Dekay, Zool. New York Mus. 7-30, 

 t. 30,/. 1. 



B. musculus, part. Flem. B. A. 30. 



B. Boops, part, Flem. B. A. 31. 



Balffinoptera acuto-rostrata, Lacep. Scoresiy, Arct. Reg. 

 i. 485, t. 1.3,/. 2. 



Balaenoptera microcephala, Brandt. 



Rorqualus minor, Knox, Jardine, Nat. Lib. 142, t. 7. 



B. borealis rostrata, Fischer, Sijn. s. 25. 



B. Boops, Cat. Col. Surg. 171, n. 1,199, skeleton. 



Rorqualus Boops, F. Cur. Cetac, 321, t. 20. 



Balaenoptera Physalus, Gray, I. c. 18. 



Vaagekral, Eschricht's Danish Acad. xi. t. 1, 2, and 

 p. 286 — 299. Foetus and anat. 



Black, beneath reddish white. Pectoral fin, white near 

 the base above. Baleen, broadly triangular, " white," Fab. 

 " White and short," ^ho.i-.— Length, 20—30 feet. 



Inhab. North Sea. New York Bay, De Kay. Valognes, 

 France, Geoffroy. Greenland, called Tikagulik. Norway, 

 called Vaagekval. 



Scoresby says, " the Baleen of the Spitzbergen specimen 

 is thin, fibrous, of a yellowish white colour, and semitrans- 

 parent, almost like lantern-horn," Arct. Reg. i. 486. 



The Greenland skull here figured, is 46"6 inches long, 

 2B'0 at the beak, 23'0 inches wide at the orbit, 15'6 at the 

 notch, and 10'6 in the middle of the nose. The nose is 

 rather wider in proportion than in the skull of the whale 

 figured by Ctivier, Oss. Fos. v. t. 26,/ 1, 2, 3. The nose of 

 the skull is elongate triangular, with straight regularly con- 

 verging sides, not quite twice as long as the width at the 

 notch. 



** Pectoral Jin \, dorsal Jin f, the length from the nose; 

 back gray. Vertebra;, 54, lateral process of nuchal ver- 

 tebra ring-like [pierced). Physalus. 



The Razor Back. Balaenoptera antiquorura. 



Razor-back of the Whalers. " B. Physalus, Linn. B. 

 Gibbar, Lacep.'" — Scoresby, Arct. Reg. t. 479. 



? Great Northern Rorqual, Kno.v. Jardine, Nat. Lib. 

 t. 6, skeleton. 



Rorqual de la Mediterranea, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. 370, t. 

 26,/ 5, skull. 



Balaena antiquorum, Fisher, Syn. 525. 



Balcenoptcra musculus, F. Cuv. Cetac. 335. Eschricht's 

 MSS. (not Linn). 



Balein de Sainte Cyprien, Companyo Mem. 4to, 1830. 

 Carcassonne and Farines Mem. F. Cuv. I. c. 337. 



? Balaena rostrata. Rudolphi, Abhand, K. Akad. Berlin, 

 1822, 27, t. 1—5. Skeleton, &c., (31 feet). 



? B. Boops, Albers, Iron, Anat. t. 1, (skeleton, 29 feet). 

 Camper ate, 74, t. 11, 13. Skull. 



Slate-gray, beneath whitish. Baleen slate-coloured, under 

 edge blackish, inner edge pale streaked. 



Inhab. North Sea. Berwick, 1831, Dr. King. Ham- 

 burg, Rudolphi. Coast of Hampshire, 1842. Skeleton 

 at Black-gang Chine. 



Its colour is a pale bluish black or dark bluish gray, in 

 which it resembles the suckling of B. myslicetus, [Act. 

 Reg. 479). Bluish black on the back, bluish gray on 

 the belly. Baleen, 4 feet long, thick, bristly and narrow. 

 Length 105 feet, fins, long and narrow. Act. Reg. 481. 



There is a nearly perfect skeleton of this species (which 

 I have lately visited in company with Professor Eschricht) 

 exhibited at Black-gang Chine, the Isle of Wight, which 

 was caught in April, 1842, near the Needles. It was, when 

 first found, dark gray above, and whitish beneath. 



The Baleen is slate-coloured with white streaks, on the 

 near or inner side ; nearly black and with a few darker 

 sti'eaks near the outer or straight side. It was 75 feet long. 

 The skull is 16 feet 7 inches long, 5 feet wide at the notch, 

 and the edge of the beak from the notch is 12 feet long. 

 The lower jaw, 16 feet 9 inches ; the upper arm-bone, 2 

 feet, and the larger fore-arm bone is 33 inches long. In 

 this skeleton, the scapula and the chest-bones are wrongly 

 placed, and the bones of the carpus and finger; and the lower 

 processes of the vertebrae as well as some of the smaller parts 

 of the head are deficient. There are seven cervical vertebrae; 

 the first, very broad, with a very large lateral process, on 

 each side pierced with a hole near the body ; the second 

 is higher than it ; and the three following have a ring-like 

 or pierced lateral process, which Professor Eschricht re- 

 gards as one of the best characters of the species. There 

 are 14 thoracic vertebrae. The ribs are long; the first, 

 simple, shortish and broadish, the rest almost of equal size 

 and length, the last being very nearly as long as the others. 

 The lumbar vertebra? are fifteen, with considerably thicker 

 bodies than the others. Caudal vertebrae eighteen, ex- 

 clusive of those contained in the fin of the tail, which is 

 preserved entire. 



Professor Eschricht has two heads of this species at 

 Copenhagen from Greenland. There is a head and some 

 vertebrae at Paris, and some vertebrae at Berlin, and the St. 

 Cyprian specimen, which was at Lyons in 1835. 



M. Cuvier refers the drawing made from a specimen 

 caught at Isle St. Marguerite, near Cannes, in March, 1797, 

 which is engraved by Lacepede, [Cetac. t. '5), to this spe- 



