THE LESSER RORQUAL. 145 



purpose ; the mechanism is admirahle, and would 

 sustain a pressure from above, though the animal 

 were to descend thousands of fathoms :" also con - 

 cerning that mass of vascular tissue, closely resem- 

 bling the " erectile," which he discovered within 

 the cranium ; " it filled a very large proportion of 

 the interior of the cranium, extending thence into 

 the spinal canal, three-fourths of whose cavity it 

 also occupied ;" and finally, his statement " that its 

 olfactory nerves were at least as large as those of 

 man." All these observations suggest many im- 

 portant considerations, on which our space forbids 

 us to enter, but which we trust will speedily be 

 offered to the public by this indefatigable observer. 

 We have already stated that the specimen now 

 before us was a young one. Both Mr. Hunter's and 

 that supplied by Dr. Trail measured seventeen feet ; 

 another taken at Cherbourg, mentioned by Lace- 

 pede, was fifteen feet : twenty-five is stated as the 

 ordinary limit of its length, and it is therefore the 

 smallest of the known Rorquals. We refer to our 

 plate as a substitute for all remarks on its external 

 characters. Its baleen is white and short ; the rosy 

 tint of the plicae was mentioned by Fabricius, whose 

 account is still the best we have seen. It frequents 

 the rocky bays of Greenland, especially during sum- 

 mer, and also the coasts of Iceland and Norway ; 

 sometimes, though rarely, coming into lower lati- 

 tudes. Its food is the arctic salmon and other fish. 

 In its habits it is very active ; so much so, that 

 though much valued in norther'* Climates for t lie 



