46 MAMMALIA CETACEA. [PHYSETER. 



(3.) P. microps, Linn. Flera. Brit. An. p. 38. 



This species, which entirely owes its existence to Sibbald's Phalain- 

 ologia, rests upon very vague and uncertain authority. It is said to 

 resemble the P. Tursio, excepting in having the teeth more pointed. 

 Cuvier does not admit that there is any well-founded distinction between 

 the two. Indeed, in his Ossemens Fossiles, (torn. v. p. 328.) he would 

 seem to entertain some doubts with respect to the existence of either. 



GEN. 31. BAL^NA, Linn. 



(1. BALJENA, Lactp.) 



73. B. Mysticetus, Linn. (Common Whale.) Gape of 

 the mouth arched : upper jaw with about six hundred and 

 fifty lamina? of whalebone. 



B. Mysticetus, Scoresby, Arctic Reg. vol. i. p. 449. pi. 12. Flem. 

 Brit. An. p. 33. Common Whale, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. 

 p. 50. 



DIMENS. Entire length averaging from fifty to sixty-five feet : greatest 

 circumference from thirty to forty feet. 



DESCRIPT. One of the most bulky, but not in general the longest of 

 the Cetaceous tribe. Body thickest in the middle, a little behind the fins, 

 from which point it gradually tapers, in a conical form, towards the tail, 

 and slightly towards the head : this last very large, of a somewhat tri- 

 angular form; "the under part, the arched outHne of which is given by 

 the jawbones, flat, and measuring sixteen to twenty feet in length, and 

 ten to twelve in breadth : the lips, which are five or six feet high, and 

 form the cavity of the mouth, are attached to the under jaw, and rise 

 from the jaw-bones, at an angle of about eighty degrees, having the 

 appearance, when viewed in front, of the letter U : the upper jaw, in- 

 cluding the crown-bone or skull, bent down at the extremity, so as to 

 shut the front and upper parts of the cavity of the mouth, and overlapped 

 by the lips in a squamous manner at the sides * : " no teeth ; but the palate 

 furnished with two extensive rows of whalebone, generally curved longi- 

 tudinally, and giving an arched form to the roof of the mouth ; each 

 series consists of upwards of three hundred laminae, the interior edges 

 of which are covered with a fringe of hair : eyes remarkably small : pec- 

 toral fins situate about two feet beyond the angle of the mouth : tail 

 horizontal, of great breadth, and of a semilunar form ; the lateral lobes 

 somewhat pointed, and turned a little backward. Colour black, or blackish 

 gray, with the exception of the fore part of the under jaw and a portion of 

 the belly, which are white. 



Appears to have been formerly of not unfrequent occurrence in the 

 British seas, but must be considered in these days as an extremely rare 

 visitant. Sibbald mentions one which came ashore near Peter head in 

 1682. A small one is stated to have been taken near Yarmouth, July 8, 

 1784-K The food of this species is said to consist principally of shrimps 

 and molluscous animals. 



* Scoresby. 



t C. and J. Paget's Nat. Hist, of Yarmouth and its Neighbourhood. 



