14 CETACEA. 



The Nord Caper, Anderson, does not appear to differ from this 

 species. It is said to be thinner, and infested with barnacles ; 

 this would lead one to think that it was established on a speci- 

 men out of health. Lacepede's figures above cited, from a draw- 

 ing by Backstrom, communicated by Sir Joseph Banks, are the 

 best figures of the Right Whale after Scoresby's. 



A variety, or probably different species, is thus noticed by M. 

 Guerin, the surgeon of a whaler : 



The Rock-nosed Whale is said " never to leave the coast, 

 and even to make the circuit of the bays. The most important 

 point (of difference) is the comparative size of the head and body. 

 The head is always considerably more than ^, while in the true 

 JB. mysticetus it is, as stated by Scoresby, less than ^, or as 16 

 to 51. The whalebone is longer in comparison to the length of 

 the animal, but the laminae are thinner for their length ; the body 

 is broader and terminates more abruptly ; the skin is dark velvet- 

 brown, and has fewer spots and yields less oil. The whalers in 

 general seem to think that it is merely a difference of age that 

 causes this difference in their external characters, but cubs or 

 sucklers are as often found amongst the Rock-noses as amongst 

 the Middle Ice Whales ; the former must have attained the age 

 of maturity." Guerin, in Jameson's N. Edin. Phil. Journ. 1845, 

 267. 



In some individuals the baleen is yellowish white, the fibres and 

 enamel pale colour. 



There is the stuffed skin of a foetal specimen, 29 inches long, 

 from Dr. Kiiox' Collection, in the Anat. Mus. Univ. Edinb. ; the 

 lower lips have a broad flap, which is to cover the baleen when 

 developed. There is a skeleton of the same foetus prepared by 

 Dr. Knox. The bones of the head are ossified, and show the 

 characters of the genus ; that is, the upper jaw is high, arched, and 

 its sides are only slightly keeled, not depressed and expanded as 

 in Balcenoptera, &c. The jaws show the grooves for the teeth. 

 The rest of the skeleton is only cartilaginous. These specimens 

 are described by Dr. Knox, Cat. Anat. Prep. fyc. 21. 



There is a skeleton of a half-grown specimen, brought home 

 by M. Guerin, being prepared in the Anat. Mus. Univ. Edinb. 

 (head 6 feet long?). 



2. BAL^ENA MARGINATA. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WHALE. 



The baleen very long, slender (nearly eight times as long as 

 wide at the base), pure white, thin, with a rather broad black 

 edge on the outer or straight side. 



Balsena marginata, Gray, Zool. E. Sf T. 48. t. 1. f. 1, baleen. 

 Inhab. W. Australia. 



