246 MR. R. COLLETT ON BAL NOPTERA BOREALIS.  [ Feb. 2, 
coast from Sérden, near Hammerfest, to Jarfjord in Syd Varanger, 
and on the Murman coast at least to Kildin. 
When, during a stay in the Varangerfjord in the month of July, 
I ascertained that specimens of B. dorealis were daily brought into 
the factories at Vardé, I at once proceeded to that place, and in the 
course of a couple of days I had an opportunity of examining the 
external characters of six specimens, three males and three females, 
whilst I saw double that number towed in, but want of time prevented 
my examining them. 
Two drawings of this species have previously been produced. 
According to Van Beneden and Gervais (Ostéogr. des Cét. p. 201) the 
first known specimen of this whale (Zuyder-Zee, 1811) was figured, 
but these authors are unable to explain the fate of this figure, which 
never seems to have been published. 
Another figure was given of Rudolphi’s specimen (Holstein, 1819) 
in a lithograph published in Hamburg, 1819; this figure is copied 
in Brandt and Ratzeburg’s ‘ Medicinische Zoologie’ (B. 1. tab. xv. 
fig. 3); it is, however, very imperfect and confusing '. 
As our knowledge of this species is thus still very meagre, I have 
thought it right to give the principal results of my researches at the 
factories at Vardé and Mehayn this year, although I am well 
aware that my observations, based as they are upon only two days’ 
studies on the spot, are very incomplete. I am also indebted to 
Messrs. Castberg, Bull, Bruun, Bryde, Ellevsen, and Sérensen, all 
managers of the different factories, for communications chiefly relating 
to their life-history as observed during their “ fishing’’ this year *. 
II. General Characters. 
Compared with the three other northern Rorquals, B. borealis 
belongs to the smaller group, its length being somewhere between 
that of B. rostrata and B. musculus, or about 44 feet. 
Its body is less robust than B. rostrata, more like B. sibbaldi, 
and much better proportioned than B. musculus. 
The colour on the upper part of the body is dark grey-blue, 
something like B. sibbaldi. The belly is more or less white as far 
as the genitalia, but the remainder of the undersurface and also the 
flippers are of the same colour as the back. 
The flippers are small, smaller relatively than in the other species; 
the dorsal fin is large, curved, and situated far forward. 
The baleen-plates are black; the bristles are white and much 
curled, and comparatively long. In the sea the B. borealis may be 
recognized at the first glance by its large, high, dorsal fin, which 
most nearly resembles that of B. rostrata, also by its head being 
more slender, and its snout more rounded than are those of the other 
Arctic species. 
1 The colour is especially wrong, which is easily explained, as the animal 
was probably drawn a long time after death. 
2 T have to offer my best thanks to my friend Mr. Alfred Heneage Cocks for 
the kind assistance he has rendered me by looking over the paper before it was 
printed. 
