208 



ACCOUNT OF A FIN-WHALE, 



the Balaena rostrata of Gmelin, and the Pike- 

 headed whale of the English*. 



Considering the enormous bulk of the body, the 

 jaws of the Alloa whale tapered sufficiently, per- 

 haps, to be described generally as " pointed,' ' and 

 the under jaw did in fact terminate in a little pro- 

 jecting acumination or point, proceeding from a 

 short twisted bony ridge in the middle of the un- 

 der side of the jaw, — most exactly as represented 

 in a drawing of one of this species sent to La 

 Cepede by Sir Joseph Banks f . The upper jaw 

 was only a " little shorter" than the under, and 

 it was also somewhat narrower. From the abridged 

 specific character, therefore, assigned by La 

 Cepede, I was immediately led to conclude, that 

 it was his Baleinoptere museau-pointu that I had 

 seen. 



On turning, however, to his more detailed ac- 

 count of this species, I was not a little puzzled to 

 be informed, in the very outset, that this is the 

 least of all the whalebone whales, it appearing, (to 



* The original name, as employed by Sir R. Sibbald, 

 Is Pyhed whale, being derived from the pyke on the back, 

 or dorsal fin. Mr John Hunter also uses the name 

 Piked whale, Mr Pennant, however, converted it into 

 Pike-headed whale, as if its head resembled that of a pipe- 

 fish. 



f m Histoire des Cetacees," in loco. 



