12 CETACEA. 



The Australian baleen of B. marginata is nearly equally fine* 

 and if imported might, by its natural white colour, be very useful 

 for many economical purposes, notwithstanding its small size. 



The following paragraph from the Daily News of the 20th of 

 December, 1849, gives some idea of the quantity of whalebone 

 now used : -" The receipts of whalebone in the United States 

 since January have been 2,285,095 Ibs., and the exports to date 

 were as follows : To North Europe, 587,926 Ibs. ; to France, 

 515,351 Ibs. ; to Great Britain, 378,449 Ibs. ; to other parts, 9296 

 Ibs., making a total export of 1,491,022 Ibs. The receipts for 

 the last eight years were 18,912,206 Ibs., and the exports 

 11,299,811 Ibs. The quantity taken for consumption during the 

 same period was 7,612,389 Ibs. The stock in the United States 

 at date was estimated at 903,000 Ibs. : viz. in New Bedford and 

 Fairhaven, 368,000 Ibs. ; New York, 275,000 Ibs. ; in all other 

 places, 260,000 Ibs." 



These whales yield the train oil of commerce ; but train ap- 

 pears to be applied by the whalers as we use drain ; they refer 

 to the train of the blubber, when speaking of the oil of dolphins, 

 &c., and appear to call all blubber-oil train, in contradiction to 

 head-matter, or spermaceti, which Sibbald says is called " whale- 

 shot " by the English ; it is so called by the Dutch whalers. 



* Body smooth above. 



f Baleen tough, flexible j enamel thick j internal fibres few, very 

 slender, forming a fine, thin, flaccid fringe. 



1. BAL^NA MYSTICETUS. The RIGHT WHALE. 



Head depressed. There are two series of tubercles on each side 

 of the lower lip ; and according to Scoresby's figure the head is $, 

 the fins are , the vent f , and the sexual organs ^ from the head. 



Females larger than the males. 



The nose of the skull is regularly and gradually arched above, 

 rather wide behind, near the blow-hole; the nose and the inter- 

 maxillary bones regularly taper in front. The hinder end of the 

 jaw-bones is obliquely produced behind, and the frontal bones 

 are narrow, nearly linear, and oblique; temporal bone narrow, 

 oblique. 



The baleen is very long, varying from 9 to 12 feet, linear, 

 tapers very gradually, and of nearly the same moderate thickness 

 from end to end, and covered with a polished grey or greenish 

 black enamel. The internal fibres occupy a small part of the 

 substance, are parallel, of a fine uniform texture, and black ; 

 the enamel, which forms by far the greater part of the sub- 

 stance, is generally blackish ; but it is sometimes, especially on 



