Sheppard : Notes on the Skeleton of Sibbald's Rorqual. 239 



Gray. . . . The comparison now made between these different 

 specimens of Finners leads to the conclusion that the following 

 should be referred to the BalcE?wptera sibbaldii \ — The North 

 Berwick Whale, the Hull skeleton, the Utrecht skeleton, now in 

 the British Museum, the Gothenburg - Whale, the Steypireythr, 

 the Longniddry Whale, and, in all probability, the Ostend 

 Whale, and Sibbald's ' Balaena tripinnis quae maxillam inferiorem 

 rotundam, et superiore multo latiorem habuit.' 



In the second edition of Bell's * British Quadrupeds ' (1874), 

 p. 402; in Southwell's ' British Seals and Whales ' (1881), p. 75, 

 in Flower's 4 List of the Cetacea in the British Museum ' (1885), 

 p. 6 ; and in Flower and Lydekker's ' Introduction to the Study 

 of Mammals' (1891), p. 243, the name of Balcenoptera sibbaldii 

 is maintained, and, as these are recognised and standard works, 

 it may be taken that this is the name by which the Hull skeleton 

 is to be known. 



In Flower and Lydekker's ' Introduction to the Study of 

 Mammals' (1891), p. 242, the general characteristics of the 

 genus Balcenoptera are given, as under : — ' Head small and flat, 

 and pointed in front. Body long and slender. Skin of throat 

 plicated. A small falcate dorsal fin. Baleen short and coarse. 

 Cervical vertebra: free. Scapula low and broad, with a large 

 acromion and coracoid process,' etc. 



These authors then point out that there are four distinct 

 species of this genus in British seas. 'Balcenoptera sibbaldii, the 

 'Blue Whale,' the largest of all known animals, attains a length 

 of 80 or even sometimes 85 feet. Its colour is dark bluish grey, 

 with small whitish spots on the breast ; the baleen is black ; the 

 flippers are larger proportionately than in other Rorquals, 

 measuring one-seventh of the total length of the body; and the 

 dorsal fin is small and placed very far back. This Whale has 

 usually 64 vertebrae, of which 16 bear ribs. Like the others of 

 the genus, this species seems to pass the winter in the open 

 seas, and approaches the coast of Norway at the end of April or 

 the beginning of May. At this time its sole food is a small 

 crustacean (Euphausia inermis) which swarms in the fjords.' 



The latest work dealing with this interesting subject is 

 Lydekker's 'Hand-Book to the Britsh Mammalia' (Lloyd's 

 ' Natural History,' 1896), and it is interesting to find what value 

 is placed upon the Hull skeleton by this author. Speaking of 

 Sibbald's Rorqual, he states, 'Although uncommon, several 

 examples of this magnificent Cetacean have been taken in 

 British waters; the first specimen on record being probably one 



1901 August 2. 



