22 
CETACEANS. 
bone is black; and there are usually sixteen pairs of ribs, against fifteen in the 
preceding species. 
This tinner has a wide distribution, and in the northern hemisphere, after 
passing the winters in the open sea, migrates northwards in the spring towards the 
coasts for the purpose of breeding. In the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, 
Sibbald’s whale is represented by a closely-allied species or variety (. B. indicd), 
which attains a length of upwards of 90 feet, and is said to have a somewhat more 
slender lower jaw than the European form. Whether this whale be a distinct 
species, or, as is more probable, a local race, it differs somewhat in habits, as it has 
been observed in the warm Indian seas during the summer months when the true 
Sibbald’s whale is visiting the cool shores of Norway. In the Pacific this species is 
to be found at all seasons on the coasts of California, thus tending to show that the 
Indian finner is not specifically distinct. Examples of Sibbald’s whale have been 
taken in the Firth of Forth. 
During the period of their sojourn on the Norwegian coasts, these whales 
subsist exclusively on crustaceans, and when in pursuit of these small creatures they 
may frequently be seen swimming on their sides. At other times, however, they 
feed largely on sardines, sprats, and other fish. When near the shore, they may 
sometimes be seen playing around vessels at anchor, but as a rule they do not 
exhibit the same boldness as the common rorqual, although they will occasionally 
follow in a ship’s wake for long distances. In one instance it is recorded that a 
whale of this species, in spite of having been repeatedly fired upon, pursued a vessel 
for upwards of twenty-four days. Sibbald’s whale is considered to be the fastest 
of all the larger Cetaceans; it but seldom “ breaches,” yet when it does so, it 
exhibits its splendid proportions and its marvellous activity to the fullest degree. 
Captain Scammon writes that, “ in contemplating this, the greatest whale of the 
ocean, one can but admire its prominent characteristics, which are its enormous, yet 
symmetrical proportions, and the muscular development which enables it to excel 
in velocity all its congeners, while its whole bearing indicates its superiority to all 
the other Cetaceans. It glides over the surface of the ocean, occasionally display¬ 
ing its entire length. When it respires, the volume of its vaporous breath ascends 
to a height which reveals at once to the observer the presence of that leviathan of 
the deep, whose capture baffles the practical skill of the most experienced whalers. 
When ‘ rounding ’ to descend to the depths below, it throws its ponderous flukes 
high above the waves, with a swoop that is well in keeping with its matchless 
strength and vigour.” The invention of explosive harpoons propelled from power¬ 
ful guns has now rendered the capture of Sibbald’s whale a comparatively easy 
task, and it is regularly hunted from the factory at Hammerfest. A specimen 
measuring 85 feet in length yielded ninety barrels of oil. 
Fossil The Pliocene deposits of Belgium and the eastern coast of 
Fin-Whales. England yield remains of several kinds of fin-whales, and likewise of 
a humpback, all of which appear to be more or less closely related to the various 
living species. Other whales from the Pliocene deposits of Europe constitute an 
extinct genus— Cetotherium —which, while evidently nearly allied to the rorquals, 
exhibits certain peculiar features in the structure of the skull whereby it departs 
less widely from the ordinary mammalian type. 
