222 LILLJEBORG ON THE 



Museums of Lund, Copenhagen, Christiania, and Bergen, I therefore determined, as the principal 

 object of my travel, to investigate the collections of Cetacea belonging to om' Fauna in those 

 museums, more especially their skeletons, as being undoubtedly the best means of obtaining a 

 knowledge of the different species. These investigations now enable me to give a tolerably 

 complete review of such Cetacea as belong to our Scandinavian Fauna. I must say that the 

 museums in Copenhagen and Bergen offered the most abundant material ; and it is particularly 

 due to mention that Professor Eschricht, of Copenhagen, and Dr. J. Koren, of Bergen, have, by 

 valuable information, very materially assisted these investigations. 



Order CETACEA, Blumenbach. 



Mammalia, with fish-shaped body and naked skin, with the anterior eætremities fin-shaped ; 

 wanting the hinder extremities, in their place a horizontal forked caudal fin as the principal organ 

 of motion, ^c. 8fc. 



Note. — Opinions have been divided -with regard to the nature of the substance that the whales 

 throw out from their blowers when they come to the surface of the water to breathe.^ Some, 

 G. Cuvier among others, have insisted that they not only blow out the air and vapour that they 

 expire, but also send out high jets of water, and some have insisted that only the former takes place. 

 Professor Eschricht has declared himself of the latter opinion, and bases his views upon anatomical and 

 physiological considerations. This opinion seems to have been fully corroborated by later and more 

 rehable observations. A statement by O. W. Brierly, in the English 'Athenæum' for this 

 year seems fully to decide the question. It appears in No. 1767, page 320. He once observed, 

 off the coast of Chili, quite near the vessel, a number of whales with dorsal fin, and had an 

 excellent opportunity of closely observing the phenomenon of spouting, and that it was not water, but 

 white vapour that they sent out through the blowers. As it is important to be able to examine the 

 credibility of Brierly's statement, I will quote his own expression in the above-mentioned journal. After 

 describing how the whales were swimming and approaching the vessel (a frigate), he adds : " Each 

 sending up two high columns of white vapour, Hke great jets of steam, which spread out into a cloud 

 at their highest points, a distinct whistling sound being heard in the blowing of those that rose 

 nearest the ship." Mr. C. J, E. Haglund, medical student of this place, who also has visited some of 

 the Southern seas, told me that on one occasion a large whale followed the vessel during a whole 

 forenoon, and was often quite close to it, and that it, in expiration, blew out a whitish pillar of steam, 

 which at the top spread into a little cloud, from which a few drops of water fell. Mr. O. Torell, Acad. 

 Adj., has also informed me, that once off the coast of Greenland a whale was quite near the vessel 

 on board of which he sailed, and that when it exhaled, it sent out vapour and a small quantity 

 of water (probably arising from the cooling and condensing of the vapour) on the deck of the vessel, 

 the vapour and water diffusing a very unpleasant odour. These observations seem to show that the 

 older statement, that the whales send out through their blowers a part of the water that they take in 

 by the mouth, does not correspond with the real fact. 



See ' Eorhandhngare vid de Skandinaviska Naturforskarnes,' 6:te mote i Stockholm ar 1851, 

 p. 245. 



