135 



This ■wLale, formerly abundant, is now rarely met with, the race 

 having been in former times nearly exterminated by the Basque 

 whalers ; it is only known to modern science by the skeleton of a 

 young animal, which was captured with its mother, at St. Sebastian, ia 

 1834. 



lahab. Bay of Biscay. 



Ettbal^na Japonica, Lacepede. The Japan Whale. 



Balcena japoniaa, Lacepede, Grray, Beneden, and Q-ervais. 



Salteiia australis, Temminck. 



Eubalcena Sieboldii, Gray, S. & "W., p. 96 ; SuppL, p. 43. 



The Japan whale, although formerly captured in numbers by the Eng- 

 lish, American, and Japanese whalers, is but very imperfectly known, for 

 no reliable remains have been secured for the examination of competent 

 men. Temminck and Lacepede give their account of it from a por- 

 celain model, and drawings by Japanese artists ; Eschricht and Eeiahardt 

 from an imperfectly developed fcBtus, preserved in the Copenhagen 

 Museum ; and Dr. Gray, from specimens of the north-west coast whale- 

 bone in the British Museum. All these scientific men, however, agree 

 VOL considering this animal as distinct from the Greenland and Cape 

 whales, with whom it is commonly confused. 



Temminck describes the general colour as black, with the belly and 

 a spot over the eye, and another on the chin, white ; Eschricht states, 

 that he found the ribs to be greater in number than those of the 

 B. Mysticetus ; and Dr. Gray points out, in a clear manner, the dis- 

 tinguishing characters of the baleen. 



" The baleen is nearly as long as the Greenland, varying from 7 to 

 12 feet long, and slender ; but for the same length it is nearly twice as 

 thick in substance, and it gradually diminishes in thickness towards 

 the ends. The enamel, when the outer coat is removed, is not so 

 polished as that of the Greenland, and when cut through, the central 

 fibres are thicker, tubular, and occupy about one-fifth to one-eighth of 

 the thickness — much more in proportion than they do in the Green- 

 land fins, and the enamel and fibre are coarser in texture and much 

 more brittle. The blades of this whalebone are generally flexuous, 

 or not kindly, so that when cut into strips they have the defect of 

 being variously bent and tapering towards the end, which, with their 

 brittleness, greatly reduces their value." 



Inhab. North Pacific Ocean, visiting periodically the Coasts of 

 Japan. 



The Japan whale rather excels the Cape whale in size, but in many 

 respects bears a close resemblance to it. 



