308 LILLJEBORG ON THE 



of towing the whale ashore, have probably been the reason that an entire skeleton has never been 

 preserved during the fishery. 



According to Scoresby, its copulation lias often been observed, in the latter part of the 

 summer, to take place in an upright position, with the head out of the water.' After a pregnancy 

 of 9 — 10 months it brings forth only one young, in February or March, according to Scoresby 's 

 opinion. The mother shows the greatest care of her young, and risks her life for its protection in 

 a similar manner with the hump-backed whale. The young is said to be from 10' — 14' long 

 when it is brought forth. It probably follows the mother until its baleen is sufficiently developed 

 to enable it to procure its own food. Scoresby estimates that at the age of 13 years it has 

 the whalebone 6' long, and that it is full-grown at the age of 20 — 25 years. It lives exclusively 

 on such smaller sea animals as abound in the North Polar Sea, as Pteropods of the genera 

 Lmacina and Clio, and smaller Crustacea, principally Copepods of the genus Calanus ; Stomato- 

 pods, such as Thi/sanojjoda ; possibly even smaller Coelenterates, &c. &c., but not on fish. They 

 remain generally only a couple of minutes at the surface of the water to breathe, during which 

 time they spout eight or nine times, and they then stay under water five to ten minutes, sometimes 

 fifteen or twenty (Scoresby), when they procure their food. The long cessation of inhaling air is 

 the cause of their becoming so weakened when they return to the surface after having been 

 struck by the harpoon ; and when they swim and exert themselves much their blood sometimes 

 becomes so impm-e that the whole body has a nauseous odour (Martens). The air that they 

 exhale is of a disagreeable odour. Their hearing and sight are said to be less acute above water 

 than when they are under water. The Orca gladiator and Schlegelii, or possibly only the former, 

 are, except man, their worst enemies. They do not generally wander about in herds, although 

 several may sometimes be seen near each other when they find some suitable place, for instance, 

 in bays covered by thin ice, that they can raise and break when they are going to breathe ; they 

 generally appear alone, or sometimes one or two together. 



Note. — The North Cape or Biscay whale, which also belongs to the genus Balæna, formerly 

 approached the coasts of Scandinavia, but is said to have now gone further south, and does not appear 

 Lei'e. The description of this species by Professors Eschricht and Reinhardt was expected, as I have 

 previously remarked, and, although delayed by the lamented death of the former, we may still hope to 

 be gratified with this description by Professor Reinhardt. 



Addenda. 



It may be added to the statements of the habitats of the Beluga that V. Baer ^ has stated 

 that it exists in the White Sea, and is caught by the Samojedes, at Golaja Koschka, on the 



^ The female of Phocæna communis, the skeleton of which has been described, was shot during 

 copulation, which, according to the statements of the man that shot her, took place in a similar 

 manner with that of the Greenland whale. Nilsson mentions iu ' Skand. Fauna, Daggdj.,' 1st 

 edit., p. 409, a corresponding observation of two " stora hvalars" pairing in the sea off Nordland 

 in Norway. 



^ A. Th. v. Middendorff's 'Bericht iiber die Ornithologischen Ergebnisse der Naturhist. Raise in 

 Lappland,' 1840, p. 76. ('Beitriige z. Kenntn. des Russ. Reichs.,' Bd. vi, 1.) 



