156 ESCHRICHT 0?J THE 



The celebrated Swedish zoologist. Professor Nilsson, was already, fifteen years ago, 

 surprised at the inferior height of the back fin in Schlegel's and Bloch's illustrations, 

 having himself observed in those " Stourvang," which he had seen several times in the sea near 

 the coasts of Helgeland, how it arose like a pole, two or three ells high, every time the animals 

 raised their backs above the surface of the sea, and as it is also stated by Thomas Bell,^ that the 

 height of the back fin was four- feet in a killer, caught in Lynn Harbour, nineteen feet 

 long, or more than one fifth of the total length of the animal. Nor had it escaped Professor 

 Nilsson's attention, that both those drawings represent females, whereas the specimen described 

 by Mr. Bell was a male, and thus he was led to ask the question, " Has not the male a higher 

 back fin than the female ?"^ But it must be admitted, that the small number of examples at his 

 disposal might as well have justified the question ; Might not the specimens of Schlegel and 

 Bloch have belonged to a species of killer different from the " Stourvang " of the Norwegians, 

 and from the specimen mentioned by Bell ? The reason why the supposition of the illustrious 

 Swedish zoologist has hitherto remained, as far as I know, perfectly unnoticed may, perhaps, 

 partly be found in the circumstance, that many have considered the other supposition mentioned 

 above, to be far more probable, as the Norwegian fishermen have always among the killers 

 opposed a "Lille- Vang" (Little- Vang) to a "Stour-Vang" (Great- Vang). A very marked dis- 

 tinction had been made even by Pabricius, between the Ardluk of the Greenlanders (his Phi/seter 

 microj^s), evidently a killer, and the Ardluksoak (his BelpJiinus orca,])inna dorsi aUissimd), and 

 accordingly it was hardly thought advisable to reject unconditionally the distinction of Lacepede 

 between a Delphinus gladiator, about which it is stated expressly,^ that its back fin may be more 

 than one fifth of the animal, and a Belj^hinus orca. It seems to me, however, that the question 

 must remain unanswered, as long as we have not observed a male killer with a low back fin, or a 

 female with a high one. At all events it was further confirmed by the specimen under exami- 

 nation, that not every coloured spot, however symmetrical it may be, is to be considered as a 

 distinguishing character of either species or sexes ; for as Mr. Thomsen's specimen had already 

 afibrded an instance of a female with the low back fin (namely, one and a half feet in a thirteen 

 feet long individual, accordingly a little more than one ninth), in which the purple mark on the 

 back found in Dr. Schlegel's specimen did not exist, thus we had here a male with a very high 

 back fin, but without traces of the white spot on the back part of the head, by which Professor 

 Nillson's specimen was distinguished. The question, however, whether there are one or more 

 species of killers in om- northern seas, is still to be examined by a comparison of the skeletons, 

 I shall therefore revert to this subject presently.* 



^ 'British Quadrupeds,' London, 1837, p. 481. 



^ ' Skandinavisk Fauna,' 1st Deel, 2nd Udg., p. 606, note. 



^ Lacepede, 'Histoire Naturelle des Cétacées,' Paris, I'an xii, p. 301. 



* After having written the above remarks I obtained a notice of a stranding of a killer on the 

 coast of Jutland, nearly 200 years back, which I cannot help adding here, as it affords another instance 

 of a female killer with a low back-fin. Mr. Benzon had informed me that at the manor-house of 

 Steenalt, near Randers, there exists an oil-painting representing a killer stranded in the seventeenth 

 century, on the neighbouring coast. I applied to the present owner of the estate, Mr. C. Bruu, 

 expressing a wish to have the picture copied, and had the pleasure, some time afterwards, 

 of receiving a copy, fifty-three inches wide by thirty-eight high, very carefully executed in water- 

 colours, with the following superscription : — " Anno 1679, d. 27de December, Da Kom denne Fisk 



