RORQUALS, OR FINNERS. 265 



Physahis latlrostris, Flower, Proc. Zool. See. 1865, p. 28. 

 Cuvierius laiirostris, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales Brit. Mus. 



p. 165 (1866). 

 Cuvierius sibbaldii^ Gray, op. «V., p. 380. 

 Balcznoptera sibbaldii, Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 



402 (1874); Southwell, British Seals and Whales, p. 75 



(1881); Flower, List Cetacea Brit. Mus. p. 6 (1885); 



Flower and Lydekker, Study of Mammals, p. 243 



(1891). 



Characters. — Size very large; flippers relatively long, measuring 

 one-seventh of the total length ; back-fin small, and placed far 

 back; general colour dark bluish-grey, with a number of small 

 whitish spots on the breast ; whale-bone black. Total length 

 of adult from 80 to 85 feet. 



Distribution — Sibbald's Rorqual, which is the largest of all 

 Whales, has a very wide distribution, although it does not range 

 so far south as some species. It has been split up into several 

 nominal species, such as the " Sulphur-Bottom " of the 

 American whalers. 



Although uncommon, several examples of this magnificent 

 Cetacean have been taken in British waters; the first specimen 

 on record being probably one stranded near Abercorn in the 

 year 1692, and described by Sibbald himself, although the speci- 

 fic determination is not absolutely free from doubt. A Whale 

 found floating dead in the North Sea, in 1827, which was towed 

 into Ostend, is likewise referred by Sir William Turner to the 

 present species ; and another example, of which the skeleton 

 is preserved in the Museum at Edinburgh, was found dead 

 near North Berwick in the autumn of 1831. More important 

 than all is a young specimen taken in the River Humber in the 

 year 1847, ^^e skeleton of which is preserved in the Museum 

 of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Hull, since it was 



