of Edinburgh , Session 1871 - 72 . 
643 
both the lexicographer and the naturalists agree in giving as the 
Norse equivalent for our term sperm-whale, not Reybar, but 
Burhvalr. Munch himself, also, by putting the Norwegian term 
Rohr or Ror as equivalent to the older word Reybar, supplies me 
with an additional argument against the latter word being regarded 
as signifying sperm-whale, for Ror or Rorhval is merely our term 
Rorqual, i.e ., a whale with folds and sulci extending longitudinally 
along the belly, such as one sees in the Balasnopteridae or Finner 
whales, but which do not exist in the sperm-whale. 
Hence we cannot regard Reafirth in Yell as having received its 
name from having once been a place of resort for the sperm- 
whale, or as affording any evidence that our seas were at one 
time more largely frequented by these huge cetaceans than at 
the present day. 
But though this name loses its interest in connection with the 
natural history of the sperm-whale, it acquires importance in 
reference to the natural history of the rorquals. Of this group 
of whales, two, viz., the common Finner, and the species of Fin 
whale, of which we had recently so fine a specimen stranded at 
Longniddry, attain a length of upwards of 60 feet, and are not 
uncommon in our seas. By modern zoologists, the common Fin¬ 
ner is usually called Balcenoptera musculus (Physalus antiquorum ), 
and may be identical with the Hrafnreidr of Torfseus. The 
other, the Balcenojptera Sibbaldi , has been identified by Professor 
Reinhardt and myself * as identical with the Rorqual, to which the 
Icelanders even at the present day apply the name of Steypir- 
eythr. In all probability the firth on the east side of Yell, now 
known as Reafirth, was frequented by these Rorquals, and was 
named by the ancient Norse settlers, Reybarfjorbr, from this 
circumstance, whilst the deep inlet of the sea on the west side of 
the island, now known as Whale-firth, may have obtained its 
Norse name of Hvalfjordr from having been the resort of the 
“caaing” whale, which in large herds still frequents the Orkney 
and Shetland seas, and is killed in great numbers by the islanders. 
For convenience of reference, I may append a tabular statement, 
compiled from the cases referred to in this and my former essay, 
* See my Memoir in Trans, of this Society, p. 247, 1870. 
