BLUE WHALE. 243 



Balaenoptera musculus (Linn). 

 Blue Whale; Sulphurbottom Whale. 

 Plate 11, fig. 3; Plate 12; Plate 13, fig. 3. 



Synonymy. 



1758. Balaena mvscidvs Linne, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 70. 



1803-1. Balaenoptera jubartcs Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Cetaces, vol. 1, p. 176, pi. 4, fig. 1. 

 1820. Balarnojifcra gibbar Scoresby, Arctic Regions, vol. 1, p. 478 (not of Lacepede). 

 1828. Balariia mn.riiiiu.s bnrcalis Knox, Cat. Prep. Whale, p. 5. 



1828. Balaenoptera miisculvs Fleming, Hist. British Animals, p. 30; True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mils., 1898, 



vol. 21, p. 632. 



1829. Balaena borealis Fischer, Synopsis Mamm., p. 524 (in part; from Dubar). 



1832. Balaenoptera rorqual Dewhurst, Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 5, p. 214 (in part, includes Dubar). 



1836. Rorqualus bnops Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Cetaces, p. 321 (in part). 



1837. Rorqualis borealix Jardine, Naturalist's Library, Mammalia, vol. 6, p. 125 (in part). 

 1847. Physalus (Rorqualus) sibbaldii Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 92. 



1857. Balaenoptera gigas Reinhardt, in Rink's Gronland Geographisk, og Statistisk Beskrevet, Bidrag, vol. 1, 



pt. 2, p. 10. 

 1861. Pterobalaena gigas van Beneden, Mem. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belg., Bruxelles, vol. 32, art. 3, p. 37. 



1863. Pterobalaena gryphiis Munter, Mitth. Naturw. Verein von Neu-Vorpommern und Riigen, vol. 9, p. 1- 



107. 



1864. Sibbaldus borealis Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 223. 

 1864. Phijsalus latirostris Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 419. 



1866. Sibbaldius borealis Gray, Cat. Seals and Wliales British Museum, ed. 2, p. 175. 



1866. Cumerius latirostris Gray, Cat. Seals and W'hales British Museum, ed. 2, p. 165. 



1866. Cuvierius sibbaldii Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales British Museum, ed. 2, p. 380. ' 



1866. Balaenoptera earolinae Malm, Nagra blad om hvaldjur i allmaenhet og Balaenoptera carolinae i syn- 



nerhet, Goeteborg. 



1867. Floweriiis gigas Lilljeborg, Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Sci. Upsala, ser. 3, vol. 6, art. 6, p. 12. 

 1871. Cuvierius earolinae Malm, Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., vol. 9, art. 2, p. 42. 

 1875. Balaenoptera sibbaldii G. O. Sars, Forhandl. Vidensk. Selsk. Christiania, 1874, p. 227. 



History and Nomenclature. 



Although the specific name musculus has long been almost universally applied to the Com- 

 mon Finback, True (1898) has now conclusively shown that Linne's Balaena musculus was 

 based on the description by Sibbald, of a specimen of the Blue Whale cast ashore in the Firth 

 of Forth, Scotland, in September, 1692. This discovery necessitates an unfortunate inter- 

 change of names, but Sibbald's description is unmistakable, and constitutes the first attempt 

 to bring the species before the attention of naturalists. In recognition of this. Gray in 1847, 

 proposed that the species be called Physalus sibbaldii and later placed it in a separate genus 



