BAliENOPTEEA INDICA. 161 



Fam. Bal^nid^. 



Head enormous ; spiracle double ; no teeth, but transverse homy lamin» 

 adhering to the upper jaw, forming the baleen or whalebone. Conical teeth 

 are found iu the fsetal state. They possess a coecum. 



Whales are the largest of all known animals, some being nearly 100 

 feet in length. They produce one young at a birth, which they suckle 

 for a considerable time. Their mammte are pudendal. They are offceii 

 found in large shoals sporting on the surface of the ocean. They are 

 most abundant in high latitudes, both arctic and antarctic. . They feed 

 on small fish, cuttle-fish, other mollusca, and small Crustacea. The whale- 

 bone or baleen, sometimes, in large whales, consisting of six hundred to 

 eight hundred plates 12 to 15 feet long, forms a regular sieve through 

 which the animal strains his food from the vast gulps of water he takes in 

 whilst feeding. The lower jaw has neither teeth nor baleen, but is fur- 

 nished with fleshy Ups. 



The skull is characterized by the great predominance of the facial over 

 the cranial portions, and the curvature of the right of the lower jaw, which 

 extend outwards in a convex sweep far beyond the sides of the upper 

 maxilla, and converge to the symphysis, but do not unite. The only 

 Indian species of the family, belongs to a group possessing a dorsal fin, and 

 hence called Finner, Finback, Fin-whale, &c. ; also Pike-whale, Eorqual. 



Gen. Bal^noptbra, Lacepede. 



Char. — Those of the family, but with an adipose fin on the back ; belly 

 marked by longitudinal grooves. Head about one-fourth of total length. 



They feed on small fishes, and are found in all seas, tropical as well as 

 cold. The largest animals of the family belong to this genus. 



147. Balseuoptera indica. 



Blyth, J. A. S. XXVIII. 488.— Cat. 288. 



The Indian Fin- whale. 



Descr. — A whale supposed to be of this species was thrown ashore on 

 the Chittagong coast, said to be 90 feet long and 42 in circumference. 

 Another was cast up dead at Amherst islet, 84 feet in length. Of this 

 last the rami of the lower jaw and a few other bones are now in the 



