SCANDINAVIAN CETACEA. 269 



others. All these three specimens, the only ones known by me that can with certainty be assigned 

 to this species, are thus of about the size of full-grown specimens of the Bay whale. They are 

 certainly all young, and it is probable that they would grow somewhat larger, but the structure 

 of the skeleton, especially of the small and slender extremities and of the ribs, seems to denote 

 that the species does not reach any large size ; and it appears very probable that this and the 

 Bay whale are the smallest of our Balænopteræ. Its small size must have strengthened Rudolphi's 

 opinion of its identity with _S. rostrata Fabricii. 



We find, both from the figure by Brandt and Ratzeburg and from the form of the skeleton, 

 that its body is elongated and slender, more so than in the succeeding species. The pectoral fins 

 are, according to the measurements given, placed somewhat before the hinder end of the anterior 

 third of the body,^ and the dorsal fin about the beginning of the posterior third of the body ; the 

 latter thus not so far back as on the Giant whale. The vent is nearly under the dorsal fin. The 

 pectoral fins are pointed and wider at the middle than at the base. The tail is compressed 

 before the caudal fin. The colour is, according to the figure, above, bluish-black, beneath white, 

 the longitudinal furrows under the fore part of the body red. The pectoral fins are on the upper 

 and outer side black. The baleen of the skeleton in Bergen is black. 



The skeleton, which is from a young specimen with loose vertebral epiphyses, which was 

 put together under the supervision of Drs. Koren and Danielsen, is of a slender and elongated 

 form, and corresponds fully with the figure on pi. i of Rudolphi's memoir, with the exception 

 that the lower jaw-bones have been placed in a wrong position in the figure.^ The skull is of a some- 

 what less elongated form than in Balcenoptera museulus, but is more elongated than in B. rostrata? 

 Its length is about twice its width. In regard to its form generally, it differs from the skull of both 

 these Balænopteræ in the processus zygomatici of the ossa maxillaria superiora being shorter and 

 less projecting towards the sides, and in the upper jaw or beak in front of these processes being 

 wider compared with the posterior part of the skull, so that the width of the skull is about li of 

 the width at this point. The beak also tapers less in front than in them. The lower jaw-bones 

 are much less curved,* and there is, in consequence of this, hardly any space between them and 

 the beak when they are in their natural position and the skull is seen from above. It differs 

 especially from the skull of B. museulus by the dilated orbital part of the frontal bones having 

 the posterior edges directed somewhat backwards instead of forwards. The lower jaw-bones are 

 rather strongly compressed, with sharp edges above and below, particularly below. Number of 

 vertebræ, as previously stated, 55, viz., cervical 7, dorsal 13, lumbar 4, and caudal 21.^ The 



^ On the figure they are placed at the end of the anterior fourth of the body. 

 ^ This has previously been observed by Eschricht. 



* The form of the skull in Rudolphi's figures, which in other respects are excellent, seems to be 

 rather too elongated. G. Cuvier has pointed out the characteristic features of this skull in his ' Ossemens 

 Fossiles.' 



* It approaches nearest to Balænoptera robusta in regard to this form of the lower jaw-bones. 



^ Rudolphi stated that there were 54 vertebræ, viz., 5 cervical, 14 dorsal, 15 lumbar, and 

 20 caudal. This statement has been corrected by Eschricht (who examined the skeleton in 1846) to 

 55 vertebræ, there being 13 dorsal vertebræ in correspondence with the 13 pairs of ribs stated by Rudolphi. 

 It must naturally have 7 cervical vertebræ, like all other whales. This skeleton agrees consequently 

 with the skeleton in Bergen in the number of the vertebræ. The skeleton in Leiden has, according to 



