122 



WHALE OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 



Balsena Australis, Desmoulins B. Antarctica, Lesson. 



THIS species, nearly up to the present period, has 

 been confounded with the former, and probably we 

 might still have been ignorant of the difference, had 

 not M. de Lalande, during his residence at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, succeeded by his energy and 

 zeal in preparing one of these animals and trans- 

 mitting its skeleton to France, where, on its arrival 

 at the Jardln des Plantes, Cuvier soon detected its 

 specific differences. 



The whale of the southern seas is decidedly 

 smaller than that of the north, measuring usually 

 thirty-five or forty-five feet, but frequently extend- 

 ing to fifty feet. Its baleen, owing to the great 

 curve of the upper jaw, appears to be relatively 

 longer ; usually reaching to about nine feet in a fish 

 of forty feet. The head is very frequently covered 

 with barnacles, having layer above layer, so that its 

 aspect is very different from the northern Mysti- 

 cetus, being often of a white colour. The pectoral 

 fins appear to be longer and more pointed, whilst 

 the lobes of the tail are less marked than in the 

 former species. When cleared of its covering of 

 shells, it is of a uniform black colour. 



There seems to be good ground for supposing 



