74 MAMMALS. 



are full of herring and mackerel. Several of our correspondents 

 state that this is a common species, and Mr. Reid informs us 

 that specimens from seventy to eighty feet in length have 

 occasionally come ashore. One was got at Hunda in 1852 which 

 was 62 feet in length. 



Mr. Irvine-Fortescue says this species is occasionally seen in 

 Scapa Flow. He has never seen more than three together, and 

 this only on one occasion. They appeared to be a family party, 

 as one was much smaller than the others, and they were 

 frequently seen during the whole of one summer. 



Balaenoptera sibbaldi (Gray). Sibbald's Rorqual. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle says that a specimen that appeared to be of 

 this species ran ashore at Longhope in either 1883 or 1884 : it 

 was over 50 feet long, and the head seemed smaller than in 

 C. inacrocephalus. 



Baleenoptera rostrata (Fair.'). Lesser Rorqual. 



Under this heading Mr. Irvine-Fortescue writes us as follows : 

 "What I believe to be a specimen of this whale was picked 

 up dead in Scapa Flow in the end of 1884, and brought to 

 Waulk Mill Bay. I took the following measurements : Total 

 length in a straight line from head to tail, 24 ft. From tail to 

 front side of back fin, 8 ft. Breadth of tail, 6 ft. 8 in. Half 

 the girth of the animal, 8 ft. (this would give 16 ft. as the 

 girth). Fore flipper, 2 ft. 10 in. long, 1 ft. 10 in. girth, 11 in. 

 broad. Twenty-seven corrugations or folds in half of belly 

 (this would give fifty-four altogether). 12 ft. 5 in. from tail 

 to the commencement of the folds. Dorsal fin, 1 ft. 3 in. high ; 

 11 in. broad at base. Whalebone about 14 in. long when 

 longest; pale pinkish white or cream colour, except along 

 the outer edges of the plates, which were dark-coloured." 



"The animal was a female, and contained a foetus about 

 6 ft. long, but this I did not see." 



"What I take to be this whale appears not unfrequently in 

 Scapa Flow, singly and in twos and threes. " 



