1859.] On the Great Rorqual of the Indian Ocean. 481 



On tlie Great Rorqual of the Indian Ocean, with Notices of other 

 Cetals, and of the Syrenia or marine Pachyderms. — By Edward 

 Bltth. 



The gigantic Whales (Balcenida) of the intertropical regions of 

 the ocean have been little studied. The existence of them is even 

 ignored by Dr. J. E. Gray, in his elaborate synopsis of the known 

 species of Cetacea, published in the Zoology of the Voyage of 

 H. M. S. ' Erebus' and ' Terror' (1846), and again in the JProc. Zool 

 Soc, 1847, pp. 88, 118 ; but there happens to be a very early notice of 

 them at the northern extremity of the Arabian sea, in the narrative 

 of the famous voyage of Nearchus, the Commander of Alexander's 

 fleet which sailed from the Indus to the Persian Gulf JB. C. 327. 

 Not only did the ancient navigator encounter a troop of these huge 

 animals ; but it would appear that they were at that time not 

 unfrequently stranded on the coast of Mekran, where the Icthyophagi 

 of that woodless region used their bones for building purposes.* 



* " The generality of the people live in cabins, small and stifling : the better 

 sort only have houses constructed with the bones of Whales ; for Whales are 

 frequently thrown up on the coast, and when the flesh is rotted off they take 

 the bones, making planks and doors of such as are flat, and beams or rafters of 

 the ribs or jaw-bones : and many of these monsters are found fifty yards in 

 length. Strabo confirms this report of Arrian ; and adds, that the vertebrae or 

 socket-bones of the back are formed into mortars, in which they pound their 

 fish, and mix it up into a paste, with the addition of a little meal." Vincent's 

 Voyage of NearcMs^ p. 267. 



Again, " Nearchus says, that on the morning he was off Kyiza or Guttar, they 

 were surprised by observing the sea thrown up to a great height in the air, as 

 if it were carried up by a whirlwind. The people were alarmed, and inquired of 

 their pilot what might be the cause of the phenomenon ; he informed them, that 

 it proceeded from the blowing of the Whale, and that it was the practice of the 

 creature as he sported in the sea. His report by no means quieted their alarm ; 

 they stopped rowing from astonishment, and the oars fell from their hands. 

 Nearchus encouraged them, and recalled them to their duty, ordering the heads 

 of the vessels to be pointed at the several creatures as they approached, and to 

 attack them as they would the vessel of an enemy in battle : the fleet imme- 

 diately formed as if going to engage, and advanced bv a signal given ; when 

 shouting altogether, and dashing the water with their oars, with tlie trumpets 

 sounding at the same time, they had the satisfaction to see theenemj give way ; for 



