246 PROFESSOR TURNER'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT FINNER WHALE 



that he had examined, though without being able to take any measurements, on 

 account of its position, the skeleton of this animal. He considered it to be a 

 Physalus, very nearly allied to the Physalus antiquorum, though it differed from 

 a specimen of that animal taken at Plymouth in some of the characters of its 

 cervical vertebrae. Since that time it has been customary to describe this great 

 whale as the Balamoptera musculus, or Physalus antiquorum* 



A comparison of the measurements, which I have quoted, with those of the 

 Longniddry whale, given in the early part of this paper, and the very decided 

 statement made as to the clear, shining, black baleen and setae, will, I think, 

 suffice to show that in its general proportions, and the colour of its baleen, the 

 North Berwick whale resembled closely the Longniddry whale, and differed, 

 therefore, in many most material points from the common Razor-back, so that 

 it can no longer be regarded as of that species. The shape of its cranium, 

 also, differs most materially from that of the B. musculus. Knox, in his cata- 

 logue, has given a few measurements of its skeleton, which, if compared with 

 those of the Longniddry animal, will show that a close resemblance exists be- 

 tween these animals in this part also of their frames. The breadth between the 

 orbits was 10 feet ; the length of the base of the cranium measured in a straight 

 line, 19 feet ; the length of the lower jaw, 21 feet 4 inches ; circumference of 

 ramus about the middle, 4 feet ; depth of ramus at coronoid process, 2 feet 7 

 inches ; depth of body of hyoid, 8^ inches ; between the ends of the great 

 cornua, 2 feet 6^ inches ; length of the humerus, 1 foot 11 inches ; of the 

 radius, 3 feet 10 inches. But it is right also to mention that there are differ- 

 ences in the skeleton, especially in the form of the sternum and the pelvic 

 bones, and whilst the North Berwick whale has thirty ribs, it possesses as many 

 as sixty-five vertebrae. The more complete comparison of the skeletons of 

 these two animals I shall reserve for the second part of this memoir. 



e. In 1847 Dr Gray described,t by the name of Physalus Sibbaldii, from 

 the skeleton of an immature animal 47 feet long, in the museum of the Hull 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, a new species of Finner, the baleen of which 

 possessed a uniform deep black colour. In 1864 Professor Flower J dis- 

 covered in the collection of the late Professor Lidth de Jeude, of Utrecht, 

 the skeleton of a young finner about 44 feet long, which differed from the 

 common Razor-back in possessing a much broader beak. He named it Physalus 

 latirostris.^ Subsequently, on examining the skeleton in Hull, which Dr Gray 

 had observed, he came to the conclusion that the animals were of the same 

 species, and he withdrew his specific name in favour of the prior one given by 



* Dr Gray, " Catalogue of Seals and Whales," p. 144 ; Van Bexeden and Gervais, " Osteographie," 

 p. 172 ; and various other writers on the cetacea. 

 ■f" Proc. Zoological Soc., June 8th. 

 % Idem, Nov. 8, 1864, and June 13, 1865. 

 § This skeleton has since been acquired by the British Museum. 



