f>4 



Queensferry, in the Frith of Forth. After being exhibited for a 

 short time by the proprietors, it was dissected by the author as care- 

 fully as time and circumstances would permit. The term Rorqual is 

 employed throughout this memoir in the sense employed by M. Cu- 

 vier, as designating " Whalebone Whales, with longitudinal folds 

 under the throat and chest." He thinks the present specimen quite 

 distinct, specifically from the " Great Rorqual," (the Balaena boops, 

 jubarte, musculus, &c.), and not as M. Cuvier seems to think it, a 

 mere variety. Among other distinctions, the Great Rorqual has 13 

 dorsal, and 43 lumbar, sacral, and caudal vertebrae ; while the indivi- 

 dual now under consideration has only 11 of the former, and 36 of 

 the latter. There are, therefore, at least two species of Rorquals in- 

 habiting the North Seas, viz. the Great Rorqual, and the one now 

 under consideration, a specimen of which was described by Fabricius 

 (Balaena rostrata) ; another dissected by Hunter, and a third casually 

 observed by James Watson, Esq., who sent a drawing of the same to 

 Dr Traill, by whom it was communicated to Mr Scoresby. 



The author had not leisure to examine the osteology with sufficient 

 care •, the following results have, in the mean time, been attained. 



Iidenial and Extertial Character. — Eight distinct bristles, ar- 

 ranged in perpendicular rows, were found in the extremity of the 

 snout, in both jaws. The lower part of the mouth is a huge pouch, 

 which, in the Great Rorqual, must at times contain a vast volume of 

 water. The tongue was free towards the apex ; and the inside of the 

 mouth of a pale rose or vermilion colour. 



The whalebone was about 2i inches in length, varied from a pale 

 rose colour to a dull-white, and 014 large external plates were count- 

 ed. No vestiges of teeth were found in either jaw ; but it is^ not im- 

 probable that they exist in the foetus of this species, as well as in that 

 of the Mysticetus, in the lower jaw of which, lying imbedded below 

 the gum, a series of teeth was discovered by M. Geoffroy St Hilaire 

 several years ago ; and in which the author of this paper has since ob- 

 served them in the upper jaw. 



Brain and Nervous System. — The cranium, besides containing the 

 brain and its membranes, incloses a very large mass of a vascular sub- 

 stance, closely resembling an " erectile tissue." This forms an ex- 

 ception to the hitherto uniformly observed law of coincidence, at 

 least in the Mammalia, between the configuration of the inner table 

 of the skull and the contained brain. The erectile tissue filled a 

 large proportion of the interior of the cranium, also three-fourths of 

 the spinal canal, where it surrounded the spinal marrow and nerves ; 

 being in some ])laces nearly two inches in thickness. The whole ce- 



