i6 



THE WHALEBONE WHALES. 



because they know that these whales drive 

 shoals of fishes before them. 



Two chief groups are distinguished: the 

 Fin -backed Whales {Balanopteridd), with 

 longitudinal parallel folds extending from 

 the throat to the belly, and a dorsal fin ; and 

 the Right Whales i^Balcrnidd), which have 

 neither folds nor dorsal fin. 



Fin-backed Whales {Balanopterida). 



As representative of this family an illus- 

 tration is given of the Rorqual {^Balcenoptera 

 boops, Physalus antiquorum), fig. 142, which 

 may even attain the length of 1 1 5 feet, and 

 is pretty frequently met with on the coasts 

 of England and Norway. Its true home 

 appears, however, to be further north. 



It is the longest, most slender, and most 

 affile of all whalebone whales. The head 

 is relatively short; the body spindle-shaped; 

 the flippers flat, short, and curved; the dorsal 

 fin small, sickle-shaped, placed very far back; 

 the tail broad and half-moon shaped. The 

 rorqual is black above, white below. The 

 ventral folds are bluish-black at the base. 

 The whalebone plates are small, and of little 

 value. The animal has little blubber, and 

 since it is courageous and rapid in its move- 

 ments, and when in danger attacks instead of 

 fleeing, it is seldom pursued. 



The rorqual feeds chiefly on fishes. It is 

 fond of remaining for a considerable time at 

 one place when it finds that the place suits it. 

 At Nice I saw one of this species swim daily 

 backwards and forwards in front of my 

 windows between Antibes and Monaco for 

 weeks together, and sometimes it came so 

 near the shore as to alarm the promenaders 

 on the beach. It had a group of dolphins 

 playing round it, and appeared like a sovereign 

 surrounded by his court. It was afterwards 

 stranded at St. Tropez (French department 

 of Var). In the course of our voyage along 

 the Norwegian coast we were accompanied 

 for several days in the Great Altenfjord by a 

 rorqual of about the length of a two-master, 



which approached so near us that we could 

 fire a bullet into its back, which appeared 

 scarcely to tickle it. Without any apparent 

 exertion this monstrous animal could traverse 

 the waters with a rapidity which rendered it 

 difficult for the gulls that swarmed around 

 to follow it. Agile and powerful as it is, 

 the rorqual loves to tumble about after the 

 manner of dolphins. On one occasion when 

 in the latitude of the Lofoden Isles we re- 

 peatedly heard thundering noises at a distance 

 as if proceeding from heavy artillery. When 

 we approached we saw a large rorqual, which 

 jumped out of the water, then plunged its 

 head underneath the waves, turned itself 

 vertically downwards, made two or three 

 rapid vibrations with its enormous tail, which 

 we guessed to be at least 20 feet in breadth, 

 and then brought it down with a mighty 

 stroke on the surface, producing a noise 

 which resounded far and wide. It continued 

 this exercise for hours together. 



The Right Whales {Balcenida). 



The Greenland or Right Whale {Balcena 

 mysticetus), of which there is a full -page 

 illustration (Plate XVI.) showing a mother 

 with her young one, forms the type of the 

 whalebone whales without a dorsal fin and 

 without ventral folds. In contrast with the 

 rorqual it is very clumsy, thickset, and un- 

 gainly. It may attain a length of upwards 

 of 80 feet and a weight of nearly 150 tons. 

 The head is one-third of the whole length. 

 The body is short and round, and decreases 

 in thickness towards the tail very rapidly. 

 The flippers are heavy and thick; the tail 

 only slightly lobed. The right whale is not 

 very agile, and not much given to sports, yet 

 it swims pretty quickly. It repels an assail- 

 ant with little vigour, except in those cases 

 in which a mother tries to defend her suck- 

 ling. 



This species, to which a very similar but 

 smaller one known as the Cape Whale i^B. 

 australis) corresponds in the Antarctic Ocean, 



