495 



UNDER-JAWED MYSTICETE. 



Balsena Musculus. JB. fistula duplici in f route, maxilla inferiors 

 multo latiore, Un. Syst. Nat. p, 226. Artcdi. Gen. 78* 

 Syn. 107. 



Whale with double spiracle on the front, and lower jaw much 



wider than the upper. 

 Balaena tripinnis, ventre rugoso, rostro rotundo. Briss, Regn. 



Anim. p, 353, n. 6, 

 Round-lipped Whale. Penuwit Brit. Zool. p, ^2. 



This is a native of the northern seas, and seems 

 much allied to the Pike-headed jMysticete, but 

 grows to a much larger size, having been found, 

 it is said, of the length of seventy-eight feet, mea^ 

 suring thirty-five feet in girth ; the head is large ; 

 the mouth very wide ; the lower lip much broader 

 than the upper, and semicircularly turned at its 

 extremity, while the upper is somewliat sharp or 

 pointed at the tip. The laminae of whalebone are 

 black, and short in proportion to the size of the 

 animal, the longest not measuring more than 

 three feet ; the spiracle is double and placed on 

 the front : the belly is marked by plaits or furrows 

 as in the BaUena Boops, and on the lower part of 

 the back is a fatty fin. The colour of this species 

 is black above and white beneath. In the year 

 1692 a specimen was taken on the coast of Scot- 

 land. Its dimensions were as above described ; 

 the tongue measured fifteen feet and a half in 

 length, and the two spout-holes on the forehead 

 were of a pyramidal form ; the pectoral fins ten 

 feet long, and the tail eighteen feet broad. 



