42 FLOWER. — ARCTIC OETACEA. 



B. musculusy Companyp = Phy solus antiquorum, Gray. The 

 Common Rorqual or Razor-back, Keporkarnak of the Green- 

 landers. Black above, white below ; flippers black ; baleeu slate- 

 colour on the outer edges, streaked longitudinally with yellow, 

 and yellowish-white on the inner fibrous edges. Length of adult 

 60 to 70 feet. This is the commonest of the Rorquals of the 

 temperate Atlantic and Mediterranean. Its Northern range has 

 not been well ascertained, as it has till lately been confounded 

 with the next species. For external characters and figure, see 

 W. H. Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1869, p. 604, and pi. xlvii., with 

 references to previous figures. 



B. Sihhaldii, Gray. Sibbald's Rorqual, Tonnolik of the Green- 

 landers, Steypireythr of the Icelanders. Black above, shading 

 into slate-grey below, more or less varied with dashes or spots of 

 white ; flippers black above and whitish below ; baleen uniform 

 deep black. Is of larger size (70 to 80 feet) and has a more 

 Northern range than the last. See W. Turner, '^ An Account of 

 *' the Great Finner Whale {Balcenoptera Sihbaldii) stranded at 

 " Longniddry," Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. xxvi. A. W. 

 Malm, " Monographe illustree du Baleinoptere," Stockholm, 1867. 

 B. laticeps (Gray). Rudolphi's Rorqual. 



Only four of five specimens of this species, which is chiefly dis- 

 tinguished by its osteological characters, have hitherto been met 

 with, and but little is known of its external appearance or 

 geographical distribution. It does not appear to exceed 40 feet in 

 length. All the specimens referred with certainty to this species 

 liave occurred in the North Sea, between the North Cape and 

 the Dutch coast. 



Balcenoptera rostrata (O. Fabricius). The Lesser Rorqual, 

 Tikagulik of the Greenlanders, Vaagevhal of the Norwegians. 

 Black above, white below ; flippers black, with a broad white 

 band across the middle ; baleen yellowish-white. Length not 

 exceeding 30 feet. This is the smallest and perhaps the best 

 known of all the Rorquals, having an extensive range in the 

 North Atlantic. 



The genus Agaj^helus (Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila- 

 delphia, 1868, p. 221) is founded on the imperfect remains of a 

 Whale cast ashore on the coast of New Jersey, indicating 1?he 

 existence of a species in the North Atlantic resembling Balcena 

 in the absence of pectoral cutaneous furrows and of dorsal fin, but 

 having the elongated form of body, tetradactylous hand, and 

 general osteological characters of Balcenoptera. Further indi- 

 cations of this animal are much needed. 



II. Toothed Whales ( Odontoceti). No baleen. Nostrils (in 

 nearly all) united to form a single median crescentic opening or 

 " blow-hole.'.' 



Physeter macrocephalus, Linn. The Cachalot or Sperm Whale. 

 An inhabitant of the tropical and warmer temperate seas, and 

 only met with as an accidental straggler in the North Atlantic. 



Hypcroodon rostratus (Chemnitz). The Common Beaked 

 Whale or Bottlenose. No teeth in the upper jaw ; one or two pairs 

 in the front end of the lower jaw, small and concealed in the 



