630 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxi. 



Art "syn. 107" = ARTEDI, Synonymia Nominum Piseium, 1738, p. 107. 

 The whole matter found under tliis citation is as follows: 



4. Balwna fistula duplici in fronte maxilla inferiore multo hiiiore. Art. 

 Balana tripinn'is, maxillam inferiorcm rotundam, <!' superiorem mnlto laiiorem hahens 

 Sibbakl. Raj. p. 17. 



It will be observed tbat the first diagnosis, or polyuominal designa- 

 tion, is the same as in tbe Genera Piscium and in Linn.neus's Systema 

 Natnra^ 



Tbe second is copied verbatim from Ray's Synopsis Metbodica 

 Piscium, page 17. 



"Raj. pise. 17"=RAY, Synopsis Methodica Piscium, 1713, p. 17. 



Ray in tbis place bas only tbe diagnosis just mentioned, and a para- 

 graph of description condensed from Sibbald, beginning, "In Septem- 

 ber, 1G92, tbis [wbale] was cast up on tbe southern shore of the Firth 

 of Forth, near the ancient fortress of Abercorn," and ending, "For tbe 

 rest, see the author" [i. e., Sibbald]. 



From the foregoing it is clear tbat Linnreus obtained his information 

 as to musciilus solely from Ray and Artedi, who in turn obtained theirs 

 from Sibbald. The name muscnliis must, therefore, be applied to the 

 species (if it can be identified) which Sibbald saw in 1092 and described 

 in bis Pbalainologia. 



Tbe description which occurs on page 78 of tbe reprint of his work 

 is very long. It may be summarized as follows: 



Chapter IV. Of the whale with three fins, which has the lower jaw round and much 

 hroader than the upper. 



Ill the montli of September of this year (1692), on the south shore of the Firth of 

 Forth, near the aucieut fortress of Abercorn, was cast up a male whale 78 feet 

 long. ' * * 



It was believed that its girth exceeded 35 feet. * * * 



It was seen to b*e of that kind which Purchas (Vol. Ill, where he treats of whale.s) 

 called Gihrata, except that it had horny plates on the palate, that the color of the 

 back was black, and that it had a tin on the back ; but the form of the mouth in this 

 whale was peculiar. The lower jaw was much broader and larger than the upper, 

 and of semicircular sha^je; whence the head appeared obtuse and rounded. * * * 



The length of the lower jaw was 13 feet 21 inches, and the shape of the opening of 

 the mouth approached an equilateral triangle. From the middle of the palate to the 

 opposite part of the lower jaw the distance was 13 feet 2 inches. * * * 



The upper jaw was narrower, and toward the extremity contracted and terminated 

 more to a point, and so was received within the circuit of the lower, which, as 

 already said, was broader and larger. * * * 



In the upper jaw the whole palate was seen to be covered with black hairs, or 

 rather bristles, which hung above the tongue, with which, at the sides, equally sepa- 

 rated, a^jpeared black, horny plates; and in this particular whale the longest were 

 3 feet; 1 foot broad where they emerged from the gum of the palate, becoming grad- 

 ually narrower where they touched the tongue, finally terminating in a filamentose 

 point; in the lower part (which was narrower), furnished throughout their whole 

 length with hairs, the color of which was also black. Where the beak was most slen- 

 der and narrow, these laminje were scarcely half a foot long and scarcely an inch 

 broad. They were arranged in a bundle (fasciculus) and contained in a sort of sheath 

 of the same substance with themselves. * * * 



