KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0. 5. 41 



Bålarna australis Desmoulin 1822. 



1 adult skeleton and several anatomical preparates. 1 blade of baleen of a J 1 shot about 30 — 35 

 miles off Possession Bay, South Georgia the 7th of March 1905. 



This whale was first known to science from the Cape seas, especially through 

 Cuvier's description of the skeleton (in: Oss. Foss.). It has been muoh discussed 

 whether the southern Black Whale should be identical or not with the Nord Caper 

 of the North Atlantic. Some anthors have even wanted to refer to one and the 

 same species, as well the Black Whale of Australia and New Zealand as that of 

 the Japanese waters. The latter cannot be discussed here as I have no material for 

 comparison, but the Black Whales of the Northern and Southern Atlantic shall be 

 compared to their exteriör characters here, and more fully in a låter treatise on their 

 osteology. 



During his stay at South Georgia Sörling had the opportunity of seeing 7 

 Black Whales shot and brought to the factory. They were all of them entirely 

 dark, almost black, above and below, with the exception of two specimens. One of 

 these latter had a small white spöt below, just behind the left pectoral fin. The 

 second had more extended white areas below, as the figure 33 on Pl. VII shows 

 better than any description. Standing at the tail end Sörling has taken this photo 

 of the upturned belly of the whale. 



At the tip, as well of upper as lower jaw, hairs are found. They are light grey 

 in colour and short, measuring from 12 to 40 mm. in length, and sit rather far apart. 

 On the upper jaw these hairs are distributed from the tip of the snout to the an- 

 terior börder of the »bonnet». The arrangement is shown on fig. 41 Pl. X. On the 

 lower jaw the hairs are distributed över a wider area. A sample from this region is 

 shown in fig. 42 Pl. X. 



The baleen is black. 1 Sörling counted 214 blades on either side of the upper 

 jaw in the first caught specimen, which had a total length of 14,io m. and the ske- 

 leton of which was preserved. The foremost blades were only about 4 cm. long, but 

 they increased rapidly in length to 195 cm. then they decreased again towards the 

 interiör of the mouth. This measurement 195 cm. is counted from the surface of 

 the gum to the tip, but then the blades are deeply implanted in the gum so that 

 the full size of the longest blades was 218 cm. 



A female specimen shot the 12th of May had some »twin»-blades of baleen, 

 that is two blades grown together as if soldered. One such »twin» blade of 2 m. length 

 weighed 47 2 kilogr. and its basal thickness was 3 cm. 2 



1 Occasionally specimens are found which shade into bluish slate or still lighter towards the median 

 side. The lighter colonr is then present iu the shape of stripes as in the baleen of the Finback. 



2 At the base of each such »twin »-blade between the same and the next normal blade pathological 

 structnres of a very peculiar appearance were found. These may correspond to through disease deformed 

 baleen. The centre of each such structure consists of a transversally placed excrescence protrnding about 

 7 cm. from the gum and about l 1 /* cm. in section. This may correspond to the basal papilla of a blade of 

 baleen (Pl. X fig. 43). Its surface is densely and completely covered by a mäss of narrow digitiform pro- 



K. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. Band 40. N:o 5. 



