KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. NIO 5. 29 



two last names have been added, to the synonymic list, as they certainly have been 

 used for whales belonging to the group of Balcenoptera physalus (Lin.) (or musculus 

 auct.). 



The name Balcenoptera australis has no doubt partly been used for the species 

 in question, but for others as well. An example of the latter proceeding is, when, 

 according to Gray's quotation in »Cät. of Seals and Whales in the Brit. Mus.», 1 a 

 -Fin-backed Whale» from Kergueien Land »about 30 feet long» and with the dorsal 

 fin »arched backwards, nearly över the pectoral», is called with this name. It seems 

 rather more probable that this whale is identical with either of the two small (20 

 — 30 feet) Finbacked whales which were observed by the »Discovery» Expedition 

 according to E. Wilson (14), or perhaps with Balcenoptera bonaerensis Burmeister. 



When Burmeister sent to Gray his first report 2 about the whale which he 

 proposed to call Balcenoptera patachonica, he described the skull and some parts of 

 the skeleton, but the specimen had come ashore so much earlier as some thirty 

 years previously and all skeletal parts were not preserved. It is therefore probable 

 that the plates of »entirely black» baleen which Burmeister attributed to this spe- 

 cies did not belong to it, and he seems rather uncertain about this himself. He 

 says that the museum of Buenos Aires possessed »two kinds» of black baleen viz. 

 »one 5Va feet and the other 1 foot 8 inches in length.» And he proceeds: »This 

 last only may be from the Balcenoptera; the other perhaps from a Balcena» — 

 Thus it is not proved at all that even the short, black baleen had belonged to the 

 type of Balcenoptera patachonica. In a låter account, however, (17) Burmeister 

 describes the baleen of B. patachonica as party-coloured viz. »dark blackish grey and 

 yellowish white», thus being of the Finback- type so to say. 



The exteriör of the animal was unknown to Burmeister as he did not see 

 the carcass before blubber and meat was already removed. 



The whale described by Hector from New Zealand, as alluded to above, was 

 »much decomposed» when found. The author quoted describes it, however, as »slen- 

 der in proportion to height». The »low recurved and pointed fin on the back» was 

 situated »just över the vent». The baleen was »black on outside edge, shading to 

 pure white inside the mouth». The total length was 70 feet. 



With these short notes it appears as if the knowledge about the exteriör of 

 the southern Finback was practically exhausted. 



In his interesting work on the observations on Cetacea during the 'Belgica' 

 Expedition Racovitza (18) does not refer any of the observations to a Finback of 

 the Balcenoptera phy salus-ty pe. He speaks, however, a good deal about a »Balcenop- 

 tera ef. Borealis Lesson» the dimensions of which he estimates to about 12 — 15 m. 

 This size is too small to be the Finback meant to be described below and certain 

 observations concerning the habits of Racovitza's whale differ as well, from the 

 reports Sörling has delivered about his experience concerning the great Finback of 

 the South Georgia seas. I dåre not therefore regard these whales as identical. 



1 London 1866. 



2 Printed in Proc. Zool. Soe. London 1865. 



