GREAT NORTHERN RORQUAL. 131 



forms its food, and which now become a suitable 

 morsel, as they are an easy prey*. 



This animal attains the vast length of from one 

 hundred to one hundred and ten feet, Sir A. Capel 

 Brooke says, one hundred and twenty (Lapland, 

 141) ; with a circumference of thirty or forty, which 

 is the same as that of the Mysticetus. Mr. Scorseby 

 remarks, it is seen apparently of the length of a ship, 

 that is, from ninety to an hundred and ten feet 

 (Thomsons Ann. of Phil. vi. 314); and, as will 

 presently appear, it has more than once been actually 

 measured at one hundred and five feet. The body 

 is not cylindrical, but compressed at the sides, and 

 angular on the back. The head is small when com- 

 pared with the former genus, and the tail is relatively 

 somewhat less broad. The dorsal fin is small, and 

 placed opposite the vent; the pectorals are con- 

 siderably distant from the angles of the lips and are 

 slender, straight, and pointed at the extremities. 

 The blubber is usually about six or eight inches 

 thick, and does not yield above eight or ten tons of 

 oil, sometimes none at all ; its colour is a pale bluish 

 black, or dark bluish grey, somewhat resembling a 

 sucking Mysticetus. 



Its blowing is very violent, and may be heard in 

 calm weather at a great distance. Though this 

 species is sometimes mistaken for the Mysticetus, 

 yet its appearance and action are so different that 

 it may generally be distinguished. It seldom lies 

 quietly on the water when blowing, but usually has 

 * See, too, p. 143. 



