bryde's whale. 1089 



oil the left. The furrows were bluish black in a belt across the 

 under side of the head and backwards to the nippers, but only a 

 comparativel}^ small part of the throat on the left side was 

 uniformly dai'k-coloui'ed. ISTo haiis wei'e to be seen on the tip 

 of the lower jaw. This specimen was unusually slender and thin 

 and probably was very old and diseased. The stratum of fat was 

 only about 3 "5 mm. thick ; and there were numerous wounds 

 distributed over the whole body (PI. CXIII. fig. 14). These 

 wounds were more or less inflamed and partly filled up with 

 mortifying fat, and in some of them a Pennella was found. This 

 specimen was lying quite motionless on the surface when it was 

 observed from the whaling steamer, and was thus very easily 

 taken. 



The whalers from Durban told me that on one occasion 

 they had caught a whale of this species, which on the whole 

 under side of the body was of a colour much resembling that of 

 the blue whale [B, iniisculus) ; but when it was taken it proved 

 to be a " herring " whale {B. brydei). 



Parasites. 



Parasites are comparatively rare in this species ; an old female 

 (Durban, November 15th, 1912) had, as mentioned above, dis- 

 tributed over the whole body a large number of oval-shaped 

 wounds, with a length of as much as 10 cm., and a depth of 

 2-4 cm. (PI. CXIII. fig. 14). Almost all of these wounds were 

 partly filled with mortifying fat and had been caused by a lai'ge 

 Pennella, speciixiens of which were found in some of them. A 

 smaller number of these wounds was found on this species at 

 Saldanha Bay, but they were very numerous in the few old 

 and apparently diseased specimens taken at Porto Alexandre. 



A species of Myxinoid sometimes makes similar wounds in 

 Bryde's whale, but I did not obtain specimens of them because 

 they always leave the whale when it is dragged out of the water. 

 I do not know whether they are to be found on the whale when 

 alive, or only after its death. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



PJ.ATE CIX. 



Baleenoptera hri/dei. 

 Fig. 1. Side view of male. 



2. Lower surface of male. 



Plate CX. 



TSaleenoptera hri/dei. 



Fia;- 3. Male specimen, showing tlie dorsal side and anterior end of the body.. 

 Saldanha Bay, 12.9.12. 



4. Same specimen as iig. 3, froni the \'entral side. 



5. Female specimen, from the dorsal side. Saldanha Bay, 12.3.13. 



