ON THE GREENLAND RIGHT- WHALE. 67 



fin-whale stranded on the island of Rugen in 1825;^ by Ravin on a fin-whale stranded on the 

 northern coast of France in 1829 ;^ and by one of us (Eschricht) on the great fin-whale that was 

 driven ashore in 1841 on the north-western point of Zealand.' We had an equally favorable 

 opportunity of observing these parts in the newborn Greenland whale sent down in 1843, on 

 which we may still found our description. In this, too, the horny blades had fallen off, owing to 

 imperfect preservation in the brine; but then- blade-like pulps were still uninjured on the sides of 

 the palate, affording us some valuable information about the whalebone in this species as well as, 

 most probably, in the right whales in general. In the foetus the horny part of the whalebone 

 blades was still fixed, but only as a very thin and fine layer on the lateral surfaces of the pulp. 

 On the mesial parts of the palate, which is not provided with whalebone nor, of course, with any 

 baleen-pulps, the skin was found to form a longitudinal ridge, which extended in the shape of a 

 lip a little over the part occupied by the baleen-pulps ; this elevation or ridge gradually disappears 

 behind, but in its foremost part it is widened rather suddenly toward the point where it meets 

 and joins the upper lip. (See Plate I, fig. 7.) 



On first observing this peculiarity in the newborn Greenland whale which arrived at 

 Copenhagen in the autumn of 1843, one of us (Reinhardt) immediately saw its great importance, 

 especially as in itself it seemed to prove that the two sets of whalebone cannot meet in front in 

 the Greenland whale, although the supposition of theii- joining each other across the anterior 

 part of the palate had hitherto seemed to be well founded. 



It is true that Rosenthal has stated that the two sets of whalebone were separated from each 

 other before as well as behind in the fin-whale stranded on the coast of Rugen in 1825 ,• but it 

 had been pointed out by Prof. Kroyer already in 1839,* that in the " Vaagehval"^ they are 

 perfectly joined in front, in an obtusely pointed end, and leave only a small interval between each 

 other behind, and we have not only found this statement perfectly confirmed, as far as this species 

 is concerned, but also in the case of the common great Northern fin-whale {Balænoptera musculus), 

 especially in the one stranded on the north-western point of Zealand, and also in a younger 

 individual, the anterior part of whose palate was sent by Captain Holboll, preserved in alcohol. 



Now, as to the humpbacks {Me(japterd), it has indeed been expressly stated of them also, 

 especially of the Greenland species (the "Kreporkak"), that an interval was left in front between 

 their sets of baleen,** but a preparation of the anterior part of the palate of a " Kreporkak," 

 which was sent by Captain Holboll for a more accurate examination of this very part, and is 

 preserved in the Zootomical-physiological Museum in spirit, together with the two similar prepara- 

 tions of the great fin-whale, will make it perfectly clear that this statement is erroneous, and that 

 the humpbacks in this respect do not differ in the least from the fin-whales. 



1 " Ueber die Barten des Schnabel-Walfisches," in the Transactions of the Berlin Academy for 

 1839, p. 127. 



^ ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' 2me Série^ t. v, p. 266. 



' ' Kong. Danske Vidensk. Selskabs Naturvid, og Mathem. Afhandlinger,' 13te Deel, 1846, 

 p.358. 



* 'Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift, udg. af. H. Kroyer,' 3d vol. (1838-39), p. 633. As far as this whale 

 is concerned, the same fact had even previously been mentioned by Hunter, ' Philosoph. Transactions/ 

 vol. Ixxvii, t. ii, p. 403. 



^ The Lesser Fin-Whale, Balænoptera rostraia, (Fabr.) Pterobalæna minor, Esch. 



* O. Fabricius ' Fauna Groenlandica/ p. 37 : " interstitium tamen anticum sine lamellis." 



