ACCOUNT OF A FIN-WHALE. 211 



nishes real evidence to prove his own inaccuracy in 

 this instance : he refers to Mr Hunter's Pikedwhale 

 as a synonime ; but Mr Hunter's plate does not 

 represent the under jaw as much wider, and, in his 

 description, he merely says, " In the piked whale, 

 " when the mouth is shut, the projecting whale- 

 " bone remains entirely on the inside of the.low- 

 " er jaw, the two jaws meeting every where 

 " along their surface." 



± may next remark, that Sir Robert Sibbald, 

 when in his Phalainologia, he treats, " de Balama 

 " tripinni quae rostrum acutum habet et plicas in 

 " ventre alludes, in my opinion, to a whale of 

 the same species as the one killed at Alloa. In the 



animal ; and the French naturalist, finding it so very 

 different from former figures, has been ied to describe 

 it as a new species, le narwal mici ocephule. If this view 

 of the subject be correct, the Rev. Mr Fleming's draw- 

 ing (Plate vi. ), may be considered as the only accurate 

 representation of the narwal yet extant. 



* The specific character given by Linnaeus, in his own 

 editions of the Sy sterna, " B. fistula duplici in rostro, 

 " dorso extremo protuberantia cornea and that given 

 by Artedi, " B fistula dupiici in rostro, protuberantia 

 " corniforme in extremo dorso apply equally to the 

 Balaena boons, and to the species now under considera- 

 tion. But it is worthy of remark, that Sir Robert Sib- 

 bald's character, " fj. tripio.nis- nares habeas, q\ s>ro 



** acuiOf et plicis in ventre," is not hable to this objection, 



O 2 



