148 



DR. SIDNEY P. HARMER ON CETACEA 



Humpba.ck (Megaptera 'nodosa Bonn.), the White Whale 

 (Delphinapterus leucas Pall.), and the Narwhal (Monodon 

 monoceros L.). The following observations refer in the first 

 instance to specimens actually recorded as having been stranded 

 during the five years in question (Harmer, 1914-1918); though 

 the statements of previous observers are noticed to some extent. 



It may be remarked that the number of records of the larger 

 Cetacea in the neighbourhood of the British coasts has been 

 largely increased during recent years by the results of the 

 Whaling Companies which have operated at certain Stations 

 in Scotland and Ireland. Information on this subject is given, 

 for the Scotch Stations, by Thompson (1912, p. 393), and for 

 the Irish Stations in a paper by Lillie (1910), and in the Reports 

 to the British Association by Burfield (1913) and Hamilton 

 (1915, 1916); as well as in other memoirs cited by those authors. 



M7STAC0CETI or WHALEBONE WHALES. 



(1) Lesser Rorqual (Balcenoptera acutorostrata Lacep.). 



This has proved to be the species of Whalebone Whale most 

 commonly stranded on our coasts ; and twelve specimens have 

 been definitely recorded (including two from 1911 and 1912 

 respectively), besides one or two others which probably belonged 

 to the same species. All have been found during the summer or 

 early autumn, from June to October; and from two distinct 

 regions of the coast : — (a) the Eastern coast of Scotland and 

 England, from Caithness to Yorkshire; (6) the South- Western 

 district, including the North coast of Cornwall, the Welsh coast 

 and the South-West of Ireland. 



The Lesser Rorqual reaches a length of about 33 feet, and 

 it can be recognised by the broad white band which runs across 

 the outer side of its pectoral limb or flipper and by the colour of 

 its baleen, which is entirely white or yellow, with hairy fringes 

 of the same colour. The baleen-blades may, however, have a 

 rosy tinge at their base, owing to the presence of vascular papilhe 

 containing blood. 



Although the British Museum possesses but little material 

 bearing on this point, I believe that there is a material difference 

 in the thickness of the hairs of the baleen-blades between young 

 and fully adult specimens. Thus I find that in the baleen of a 

 Lesser Rorqual, stianded at Perranporth, Cornwall, on June 5, 

 1916, the hairs are much finer than in an individual of the same 

 species stranded at Ulrome, Yorkshire, on Oct. 21, 1915. In 

 both instances the determination of the species is confirmed by 

 other evidence. Thus in the specimen from Perranporth the 

 pectoral fin was described as having a white band on its outer 

 surface — a marked specific character of the Lesser Rorqual ; 

 and this evidence was completed by a, sketch of the part in ques- 

 tion. In the animal from Ulrome the baleen was described as 



