568 BAL.lNID^. 



in length, 18 inches in vertical diameter at a spot 3 feet in advance 

 of the coronoid process, and nearly 27 inches at the coronoid. 

 The radius was 39 inches long ; a rib (probably the third) 8 feet 

 2 inches. 



Distrihutlon. Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. A large whale, 

 probably this species, is not rare on the coast of Baluchistan. The 

 animal from which the typical bones were procured was stranded 

 on Amherst Island, Arrakan, in the rainy season of 1851. Another 

 came ashore alive, Sept. 15, 18-J-2, near Chittagong. Other 

 individuals have been stranded on the coast of Sind ; of one the 

 skull, 17 feet 8 inches long, is preserved in the Karachi Museum, 

 and this large whale has also been recorded on the coasts of 

 Malabar and Ceylon. 



As already pointed out, this species is probably the same as the 

 great northern Pin-whale {B. sihhaldi). It is the largest of all 

 kno\\n animals, living or extinct. 



378. Balaenoptera edeni. The smaller Indian Fin-whale. 



Balsenoptera edeui, Anderson, An. Zool. Res. p. 551, pi. xliv (skull 

 and vertebrae) ; W. Sclater, Cat. p. 314. 



Of this whale, also, no details of the external characters are 

 known, bitt a skull, the vertebrte, and some other bones of an 

 adolescent individual are preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 

 The vertebral formula is believed to be C. 7, D. 10, L. 14, C. 21, 

 = 52. The skull is very long, the maxillaiy portion especially. 



Dimensions. Total length of adult probably 40 feet. In an 

 adolescent individual 37 feet long the skull was 9 feet 11 inches 

 long, 4 feet 5 inches broad (a larger skull 10 feet 4 inches by 

 4 feet 10 inches), lower jaw 9 feet 5 inches ; humerus 12-25 inches, 

 radius 22 ; height of mandible at coronoid process 14, length of 

 baleen about 12. Additional measurements of various bones are 

 given by Anderson. 



Distribution. Bay of Bengal. The type was stranded in the 

 Sittoung Estuary, June 18, 1871. 



As already pointed out, this whale is referred by Van Beneden 

 to B. rostrata. 



Although no specimen has yet been procured from the Indian 

 seas, there can be little if any doubt that a species of Megaptera 

 exists there. In this genus the head is of moderate size, the body 

 much less slender than in Balainoptera, and there is a protuberance 

 or hump forming the base of a low dorsal fin. Throat plicated ; 

 baleen-plates short and broad ; cervical vei'tebnv free. The 

 pectoral limb is vei'y long and narrow, being one-fourth the total 

 length of the animal. This whale grows to a length of 50 or (JO 

 feet or even more. 



The common Atlantic form, M. hoops, is said to occur in almost 

 all seas ; but another species, M. indica (Gervais, Comptes 

 Keudus, xcvii, p. 156(5), has been described from the Persian 



