r.\i'iri<i:i) ni'.ar i;i.'i<niia.m. 127 



becomes much darker after death, hut in this specimen I have 

 observed a feature which is worth recording with regard to the 

 baleen ; that the dehcate slate colour of the blades which I have, 

 became much darker after it had been cut off and become dry. 



Some interesting particulars as to the great variability and sizes 

 of the Common Rorcjual are given by Mr. Cocks in ZooL, 1887, 

 pp. 215-18/ and 1888, pp. 205-6, also Zool. 1884, p 456, where he 

 says, " The extremely thin, elongated, or seemingly-emaciated 

 appearance of this species is very noticeable, the posterior portion 

 of the back is almost sharp-edged, c^uite deserving the English name, 

 Razorback." This ill-conditioned peculiarity was very apparent in 

 the Burnham specimen. 



One of the most interesting features in connection with this 

 species is undoubtedly the asymmetry in colour on the two sides of 

 the head, which, although unnoticed or unrecorded till of late years, 

 appears to be a constant character, and of specific importance. 



This was first noticed by Prof. G. O. Sars of Christiana Univer- 

 sity in descriptions of B. timsculus w^hich appeared in " Forhand : 

 Videns : Selsk : Christiania," 1878, and again in 1880. In the 

 latter year he figures a specimen taken in \'arangerfjord Finmark, 

 measuring al)out 68 ft. Engl., showing on the left side the upper 

 jaw and the band of the lower jaw slate-black, whilst on the right 

 side, about half of the upper jaw, a portion of the baleen, and the 

 lower jaw band and throat are white, the difference in colour being 

 very clear and distinct when viewed looking down upon the top of 

 the head. 



This want of symmetry has since been noticed in several speci- 

 mens ; - and in a photograph sent me (with some details) of a female 

 stranded at Sea View, Isle of Wight, in September, 1888, which was 

 no doubt of this species, though never absolutely identified, the 

 same difference in colour is clearly shown. 



In 1884, Prof. G. A. Guldberg, Conservator of the Zootomical 

 Museum of the University of Christiania, writing " on the existence 

 of a fourth species of Balcenoptera " {borealis) (Bullet. Acad. Roy. 



1 On page 215, a note by one of the whalers, Captain Sorensen, is inserted, mentioning a 

 kind of Rorqual called the Herring Whale (j/V«/M-'a/l, met with during the herring fishing on 

 the western and southern co.xsis of N^orway. He says it is most like the Common Rorqual, but 

 is smaller, 50 to 55 feet, with the dorsal fin somewhat higher and more pointed, and yields less 

 oil He suggests this may be the southern form. From the description, so far as it goes, it 

 seems probable that the Burnham Whale belonged to this s-ariety. 



2 Notably by Prof. Pouchet in 1884, one with the right side white (Comptes rend. .\cad. Sc. 

 Paris, Fev. 1885); by k. H. Cocks, 1884,3 male at Vardo, 64^ ft. long, the left side black and 

 the right side white (Zool. .Ap. 1885, p. 138): and by the same author, a male 71 ft. at V'ardo, 

 left upper and lower lip jet black, right lips enamel or milk-white (Zool. 1889, p. 289). 



