124 



InliaL. Nortli Sea. 



Colour — black above, white underneath. 



" A whale was observed floating dead in the North Sea between 

 Belgium and England, and was towed into the harbour of Ostend on 

 the 4th November, 1827. It was 102 feet long," or precisely of the 

 same length as the Eazorback. This huge animal is our Sibbaldius 

 borealis, the skeleton of which was exhibited at Charing Cross, London, 

 being previously well described and figured by MM. Dubar and Scharf 

 respectively. 



This specimen was a female whale, and had the upper jaw narrower 

 and shorter than the lower, so as, when the mouth is shut, to be 

 completely embraced within the latter. The dorsal fin was placed 

 posteriorly at nearly three-fourths of the entire length of the body. The 

 bifurcation, or rather double-head, of the anterior ribs, is well developed 

 in the skeleton of this aged animal, corroborative of a distinct generic 

 peculiarity, one only attributed by MM. Van Beneden and Gervais 

 to the young, and that but occasionally. 



Setting aside the characters displayed by the skeletons, I may 

 remark, that in colour, habits, places of resort (vcith perhaps the single 

 exception of the Mediterranean) , and in rivalry for superiority of size, 

 as to which may be looked upon as the most bulky and powerful of 

 created beings, the Eazorback and the Tlatback bear so strong a 

 resemblance as to render their non-identity a matter of great difficulty. 



Sibbaldius Schlegelii, Plower. The Javan Finner Whale. 



Synonyms — EaJa;nop>tera so. pliysalus, Schlegel. 



Salanoptera Schlegelii, Plower, Van Beneden. 

 SaJainoptera longimana, Schlegel. 



Sibbaldius ScJilegelii, Gray, S. and "W., p. 178, Suppl., p. 55, 

 riower, P.Z'.S. 



Inhab. coasts of Java. 



Mr. Mower, in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 

 1864, gives a lengthened account and many illustrations of the skeleton 

 of this species, to which I must refer the student, as the limited space 

 at my disposal will not permit me to extract so profusely as I could 

 desire from so esteemed a writer. 



This inhabitant of the .tropical seas between the Indian and Pacific 

 Oceans, is evidently the counterpart of the northern species, the 

 Sibbaldius laticeps, with which indeed it agrees so closely in every 

 constituent part of the skeleton, that Mr. Plower closes his most 

 elaborate analysis with the observation : " In the present case I have 

 carefully compared the skeletons (that from Java and those from the 

 European coast) together. I have even had the advantage of placing 

 many of the bones of the two in the Leyden Museum side by side ; 

 and I confess that, allowing for dift'erence of age, it is difficult to fix 

 upon any characters in which they decidedly differ." 



