216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



disappeared at the end of April ; it is white under the belly. The 

 Finwhale which then came has more or less dark gre}' colour 

 among the white, especially on one side ; its snout is generally 

 more pointed, and the Whale is more slender and longer"; and 

 adds that the Finwhales that eat Lodde (Capelan) are only in 

 Finmarken waters in the spring, and that those that eat Kril 

 {Calanus finmarchicus) come later. 



Capt. Castberg described the " Herring Whale " as much 

 resembling the Blue Whale ; the head like a Blue Whale's ; the 

 line of the back much bowed posterior to the dorsal fin ; the 

 furrows on the belly are after the pattern of a Common Finwhale, 

 except that they are narrower (the furrows in the Blue Whale are 

 shallower and narrower, and more numerous than in the Common 

 Rorqual) ; the flukes more like those of the Blue Whale than the 

 Common Fin. 



Capt. Horn has only seen one Whale answering the description 

 given by Capt. Castberg of the "Sildehval"; it was a male 

 63 Eng. ft. long, killed August 21st last; it was almost black on 

 the back (blacker than a Blue Whale) ; at a very short distance 

 behind the dorsal fin the line of the back bent abruptly down (as 

 if humpbacked) ; the dorsal fin was farther aft than usual ; the 

 difference in colour caused it to look very different; it was 

 extremely tough and hard; an example of 49 ft. probably produced 

 more oil than this one. 



A Norwegian who was one of the first colonists to settle on the 

 Murman coast told me that he knows the " Sildehval " ; it is like 

 the Whales found about Bergen, and is black on the back ; it 

 arrives on the coast with the herring, for which there is no 

 fixed time. 



Nearly universally recognised among the Finwhalers is the 

 so-called "Bastard," from its having been supposed to be the 

 offspring of mixed parentage — of a Blue and Common Rorqual. 

 This variety appears to attain to larger dimensions than the 

 typical form, and is described as grey, rather than the usual 

 white, on the under side ; on one side the baleen plates are for a 

 short distance at the anterior end entirely white, while the 

 remaining portions are darker than the normal colour. The 

 following lengths of specimens of B. musculus were given me; 

 I have kept the '' Bastards," where mentioned, distinct from the 

 common form: — 



