125 



Dr. Gray, however, points out that the beak of the skull in proportion 

 to the length of the brain cavity is much longer in the Javan than in 

 the Broadheaded Finner. 



The Javan skeleton belongs to a somewhat larger animal than its 

 European representative one which would probably measure 45 feet 

 in length. 



Genus BAL^NOPTERA. 1 Beaked or Piked Whales. 



Dorsal fin high, erect ; vertebrae, 48-50 ; ribs, eleven pairs ; nasal 

 bones rather narrow and elongate, truncated at their anterior ends, 

 convex on the upper surface in both directions ; rami of lower jaw 

 much curved and with a high coronoid process ; cervical vertebras 

 partially anchylosed ; head of the first rib simple ; sternum longer 

 than broad, having the form of an elongated cross. (Principally from 

 Flower.) 



EOSTRATA, 2 Miiller. The Pike "Whale or Lesser Eorqual. 



Synonyms Balcena rostrata, Miiller, O. Fabr, Hunter, Nilsson. 

 Balcenoptera acuto-rostrata, Lacep., Scoresby, Lesson. 

 Itorqualus minor, Knox, Jardine, Nat. Libr. 

 ~Bal<znoptera rostrata, Gray, S. and W., p. 188, Suppl., p. 56. 

 Pterobalcena minor, et rostrata, Yan Beneden. 



Colour black above, beneath reddish-white ; pectoral fin white near 

 the upper part of the base ; length, from 25 to 30 feet. 



Inhab. North Sea, ascending the mouths of rivers. 



This small whale, the smallest among the Anodontocete, is very active 

 in its movements, and well known to the coast inhabitants of the 

 northern portions of Europe and America, for its range of habitat 

 extends from the temperate parts of the Atlantic to beyond the icy 

 waters of the Arctic Circle. 



Like others of the family, this species exists principally on the smaller 

 kinds of fish, such as the Arctic salmon, 3 the herring, &c., in the anxious 

 pursuit of which it ascends the mouths of rivers, and occasionally gets 

 entangled within the folds of the drift-nets set by fishermen to intercept 

 the immense shoals of these gregarious fish. 



In its habits the Lesser Rorqual may be considered as solitary, for 

 rarely two or three are seen together ; and M. Eschricht, who has paid 

 great attention to the whales of the North Sea. records that its period 

 of gestation is ten months. 



1 Balcena, and 



2 Rostrata, beaked. 



3 The Arctic Salmon is the Salmo Rossii, and is readily known from the common 

 salmon by the remarkable length of the lower jaw, which extends far beyond the 

 upper one. It is " so extremely abundant in the sea, near the mouths of the rivers 

 of Boothia Felix at certain seasons, that 3,378 were obtained at one haul of a small- 



sized sein. They varied in weight from 2 to 14 pounds, and rather exceeded in the 

 aggregate 6 tons." 



