THE COMMON RORQUAL 



impetuosity that the line was broken by the resistance of the buoy as soon 

 as It was thrown into the water, and the latter was Hberated within a minute 

 by the division of the line, occasioned, it was supposed, by its friction 

 against the dorsal fin. 



" Both of them escaped. Another physalis (Rorqual) was struck by one 

 of my inexperienced harpooners, who mistook it for a mysticetus. It dived 

 obliquely with such velocity that 480 fathoms of line were withdrawn from 

 the boat in about a minute of time. This whale was also lost by the 

 breaking of the Hne." 



The Common Rorqual feeds on herrings and other fish as well as on 

 crustaceans and squids. 



RUDOLPHFS RORQUAL. 



Balcenoptera borealis, Lesson. 

 Plate 44. 



The Sei-Whale (Saithe- Whale), as this species is called by whalers, 

 was first described by the Italian naturalist Rudolphi from a specimen 

 taken in the Baltic in 18 19. It is smaller than the Common Rorqual, 

 full grown specimens measuring between 50 and 60 feet in length and 

 occasionally more. 



The flippers are relatively short, the dorsal fin high and falcate and 

 placed well forward on the body. 



Rudolphi's Rorqual varies considerably in colour. 



Mr. Millais says {Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland)^ " The 

 majority are dark sepia suffused with grey like S. musculus. The colour 

 of the under surface is grey with large irregular patches of white, the 

 parts about the throat and genital organs white, fi-om thence backwards 



to the flukes grey." 



67 



