SCANDINAVIAN CETACEA. 



251 



Note. — The number of the ribs and vertebrae seems generally to be very constant, so that 

 deviations in this respect may be considered characteristic of distinct species; different species 

 may, however, have the same number of ribs and vertebræ. Balanoid cirripeds are said not to infest 

 the Balænopteræ. 



This genus probably includes a considerable number of species from all seas. Only a few 

 (7 or 8 living), however, are known. . Pour or five species have been found within the 

 boundaries of Scandinavia, one of which now seems to be extinct. They are quicker in their 

 movements than the Greenland whale, and do not rush towards the bottom like it, when struck 

 by the harpoon, but swim forward with the greatest speed, and immediately pull out the entire 

 harpoon hue, which must at once be cut in order to save the crew and the boat, and they are 

 consequently very difficult to catch with the harpoon. They feed upon small marine animals and 

 even fish and larger invertebrata. 



Balænoptera. 



Processus coro- / 



noideus maxillæ 



inferior] s 



eminens et dis- 



tinctus. 

 Numerus ver- 



tebrarum 



55 vel ultra. 

 Extremitas supe- 

 rior costarum 1™ ] fissa . 

 paris. Costarum 



indivisa . . . . 1. musculus, Company o, 

 14 paria 3. gigas (Eschricht). 

 13 paria 3. laticeps, Gray. 

 ^ 48 — 49. Costarum 11 — 13 paria . . 4. rostrata (Fabricius), 

 depressus et tuberculum parum distinctum formans . . 5. robusta, Lilljeborg. 



1. B. MUSCULTjs, Companyo. The Rorqual or Razorback. Swedish, "Rorhval". 



Number of vertebræ 61 — 62, of which 15 are dorsal. Ind to the hth or Wi cervical vertebræ 

 with ring-lihe processus transversi} Processus coronoideus of the lower jaw high and distinct. 1st 

 pair of ribs loith the upper end single. 



Rorqual de la Mbditeeranee, G. Cuvier. Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles, 



t. V, l"^" partie, p. 373, tab, xxvi, fig. 5. 

 Balænoptera muscxilus, L. Companyo. Memoire descriptif et osteographie de la Ba- 

 leine échouée sur les cotes de la mer, pres de Saint 

 Cyprien, Departement des Pyrenees- Orien tales, le 37 No- 

 vembre, 1838 ; Perpignan, 1830. 

 RoRQUALUS — F. Cuvier. Histoire naturelle des Cétacées, p. 334. 



Balænoptera arctica, H. Schlegel. Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Zoologie, 

 und vergieichenden Anatomie, 2 heft, p. 10, tab. ix. (The 

 best figure of the animal.) 

 — MUSCULUS, Joh. Muller. Archiv fiir Anatomie, Physiologic, &c., Jahrg. 



1843, p. 337. 



^ This character was first mentioned by J. Miiller, and afterwards more fully developed by 

 D. r. Eschricht. 



