156 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



(Mallotus arcticus), and other small fish, also of " kril" {Thysano- 



poda inermis), and other small Crustacea With regard 



to its propagation, I have not chanced to come to any certain 

 knowledge about it, either as to how long its period of gestation 

 is, or whether it has any fixed pairing season. I have onl}' had 



the opportunity of examining two foetuses Such foetuses 



are considered of the greatest rarity. Both were of small size, from 

 1 to 1^ ft. in length, and were taken in the middle of summer, — 

 in the month of Jul}', — which should augur that the pairing 

 season falls in one of the spring months." 



Common Rorqual {Balanoptera miisculus, L.) — Norwegian 

 names. Fin Hval, Eorhval.* Specimens seen, a male about 

 40 ft. or rather more, brought in Aug. 24th ; one passed at sea, 

 being towed by a whaler on Aug. 21st, about 60 ft. long; and a 

 foetus between 9 and 10 ft. long, in too bad a state to be worth 

 preserving, probablj' obtained about the end of July or beginning 

 of August. Grey-blue or greyish slate-colour on the back ; the 

 whole under side white, including the under side of the flukes. 

 The white is only a few inches in width along the small part — 

 the last few feet of the tail-end. 



The extremely thin, elongated, or seemingly emaciated 

 appearance of this species is very noticeable ; the posterior 

 portion of the back is almost sharp-edged, quite deserving the 

 English name, " Razor-back." The white on the under side 

 includes all the furrows, except about the uppermost row. The 

 front of the under jaw and the chin are also white, with black 

 flecks. In the figure of this species in Mr. Southwell's ' Seals 

 and Whales of the British Seas,' the nasal protuberance or ridge 

 along the median line of the head appears to shelve away gradu- 

 ally to the sides, instead of being a mere narrow ridge standing 

 up abruptly on the otherwise very shallow skull. This figure is 

 after one in Professor Flower's paper on an example of this 

 species (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 604), where the nasal ridge is 

 shown correctly. In Mr. Southwell's figure the under side is 

 shown almost entirely dark, and the shape of the tail portion 

 between the fin and the flukes is more like a Blue Whale than 

 this species, which is smaller or shallower; and this point is 

 also, I venture to think, incorrect in Prof. Flower's figure. This 



* Dr. Guldberg, ' Vardo Posten,' Aug. 19th, 1883. 



