i4 CETACEA. 
The Nord Caper, Anderson, does not appear to differ from this — 
species. It is said to be thimner, and infested with barnacles ; 
this would lead one to think that it was established on a speci- — 
men out of health. Lacepéde’s figures above cited, from a draw- 
ing by Backstrom, communicated by Sir Joseph Banks, are the ~ 
best figures of the Right Whale after Scoresby’s. | 
A variety, or probably diferent species, is thus noticed by M. 
Guérin, the surgeon of a whaler :— 
The Rock-nosed Whale is said “never to leave the coast, — 
and even to make the circuit of the bays. The most important — 
point (of difference) is the comparative size of the head and body. — 
The head is always considerably more than 3, while in the true © 
B: mysticetus it is, as stated by Scoresby, less than 3, or as 16 © 
to 51. The whalebone is longer im comparison to the length of — 
the animal, but the lamine are thinner for their length; the body — 
is broader and terminates more abruptly ; the skin is dark velvet- 
brown, and has fewer spots and yields less oil. The whalers in — 
general seem to think that it is merely a difference of age that — 
causes this difference in their external characters, but cubs or 
sucklers are as often found amongst the Rock-noses as amongst — 
the Middle Ice Whales; the former must have attained the age — 
of maturity.”’—Guérin, in Jameson’s N. Edin. Phil. Journ. 1845, — 
267. Yq 
In some individuals the baleen is yellowish white, the fibres and — 
enamel pale colour. : 
There is the stuffed skin of a foetal specimen, 29 inches long, ~ 
from Dr. Knox’ Collection, in the Anat. Mus. Univ. Edinb. ; the — 
lower lips have a broad flap, which is to cover the baleen when — 
developed. There is a skeleton of the same foetus prepared by 
Dr. Knox. The bones of the head are ossified, and show the © 
characters of the genus ; that is, the upper jaw is high, arched, and — 
its sides are only slightly keeled, not depressed and expanded as ~ 
in Balenoptera, &c. The jaws show the grooves for the teeth. 
The rest of the skeleton is only cartilagmous. These specimens 
are described by Dr. Knox, Cat. Anat. Prep. &c. 21. 
There is a skeleton of a half-grown specimen, brought home — 
by M. Guérin, being prepared m the Anat. Mus. Univ. Edinb. © 
(head 6 feet long ?). 4 
2. BALEZNA MARGINATA. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WHALE. — 
The baleen very long, slender (nearly eight times as long as — 
wide at the base), pure white, thin, with a rather broad black 
edge on the outer or straight side. 
Balena marginata, Gray, Zool. E. 5 T. 48. t. 1. f. 1, baleen. 
Inhab. W. Australia. 
