THE LESSER RORQUAL. 143 



1834, near Queensferry, Frith of Forth. It was a 

 young one, measuring only ten feet. On obtaining 

 possession of it, Dr. K. thought of suspending it 

 horizontally as in the posture of swimming. " By 

 this means," he remarks, " the proper character of 

 the head and mouth were given, and this so much 

 altered the appearance of the animal, that the author 

 thinks all previous views extremely incorrect, be- 

 sides tending to mislead the naturalist as to the real 

 capacity of the mouth of the genus, which is really 

 very great. The lower part of the mouth is an 

 enormous pouch or bag which, in the great northern 

 Rorqual, must at times contain an incredible volume 

 of water. The tongue was free towards the apex, 

 almost as much as in man." (Notice of a Paper 

 read to Royal Soc. of Edin.) 



Passing by this observation on the tongue, which, 

 so far as we know, is original, we cannot but felici- 

 tate our readers on the simple but ingenious thought 

 which led this gentleman to place the individual as 

 much as possible in its natural position, whereby, 

 we agree with him, a new character was given to 

 the appearance of its most striking feature, and 

 every thing like doubt removed concerning the true 

 use of that peculiai structure, which hitherto has 

 perplexed all naturalists who have directed their 

 attention to it. It was from this discovery that, 

 when treating of the Great Rorqual (on p. 131), we 

 did not hesitate to assign this use, viz. that of a 

 pouch for augmenting the capacity of the mouth to 

 the part; and no adequate judge, we apprehend 



