RUDOLPIIl'S RORQUAL. 407 



CETA CEA . BA LjENOP TERIDjE. 



{MYSTACOCETI.) 



RUDOLF HI'S RORQUAL. 



Balcenoptera laticeps (J. E. Gray). 



Specific Character. — Black above, white below ; upper surface of flipjier 

 black. Baleen black ? Rostrum of skull very broad ; vertebne about 58 ; 

 ribs 15 pairs, the first usually (or always?) double-headed. Length of adult 

 30 to 40 feet. , 



Balcena rostrata, Rcdolphi {nee Linn.) Berlin Abhandl., 27 (1820). 



BalcenopUra laticeps, J. E, Gray, Zool. Erebus & Terror, L, 20 (1844). 



Sibbahlius laticeps, „ P. Z. S., 1864, 223, 



? BaUenoptera hoops, Yarrell, P. Z. S., 1840, 11. 



? ,, tenuiro&tris, Sweeting, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1840, iv. 342. 



RuDOLPHi's Rorqual is a small species, not much 

 larger than the Lesser Rorqual, with which it was for- 

 merly confounded. Very little is yet known of its history 

 and geographical distribution. 



In 1820 Rudolphi described a specimen taken in 

 Holstein under the name of Balcena rostrata ; its skeleton 

 is still preserved in the Berlin Museum. This was the 

 " Rorqual du Nord" of Cuvier {Oss. Foss., V., p. 564), 

 to which Fischer gave the name of Balcena borealis, in- 

 cluding the Ostend Whale in his description. But the 

 distinction of Rudolphi^s specimen was first clearly 

 pointed out by Dr. Gray, in the " Zoology of the 

 Erebus and Terror " in 181(), and other skeletons have 

 since been found to belong to the same species. 



