RORQUALS, OR FINNERS. 27 1 



CoIIett in the Norwegian seas, it feeds almost exclusively on 

 small crustaceans, and never touches fish. 



IV. THE LESSER RORQUAL. BAL^NOPTERA ROSTRATA. 



Balcena rostraia, Fabricius, Fauna Grcenlandica, p. 40 

 (1780). 



Rorqiialus mmor, Knox, in Jardine's Naturalist's Library, vol. 

 xxvi. p. 142 (1844). 



BalcEnoptera rostrata, Gray, Zool. Voy. of Erebus and Terror, p. 

 50 (1846); Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 411 

 (1874); Southwell, British Seals and Whales, p. 78 

 (1881); Flower, List Cetacea Brit. Mus. p. 7 (1885). 



Characters. — Size small; back-fin (as in the last species) 

 relatively tall, and placed far forwards ; colour of upper-parts 

 greyish-black, with the exception of a broad white band across 

 the flippers; under-parts, with the exception of the lower 

 surface of the flukes, which is coloured like the back, but 

 including the inferior aspect of the flippers, white ; whale-bone 

 yellowish-white. Total length of adult about 30 feet, or 

 less. 



Distril)ution. — -Typically, the Lesser Rorqual, or, as it is often 

 called, the Pike-Whale, is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic, 

 ranging as far north as Davis' Straits, and often found on the 

 Scandinavian coasts, but seldom entering the Mediterranean. 

 Like the other species, it is represented by a closely-allied 

 form in the Pacific, which in our own opinion is probably 

 specifically the same. 



To the British coasts this Rorqual is a comparatively 

 common visitor, and there are several examples in our 

 Museums which have been taken in our own seas. It will be 

 unnecessary to allude to all the examples recorded from Eng- 

 land ; but we may mention that one was taken in Cornwall in 



