WHALES’ FOOD. 
83 
an undulating motion from side to side, somewhat like 
a wherry propelled with one oar over the stern. 
The oil of the Physalis antiquorum is calculated at 
the rate of one ton in ten of the whole weight of the 
body. The blubber of Balcena mysticetus is about 
one half of all the weight. The finner is leaden- 
coloured in some lights; but seen directly below the 
spectator, its body is black, with the chest and throat 
velvet-brown, and ridged along the under parts wuth 
deep plaits, which are of a deeper brown on the outer 
part of the folds, and a yellowish white within. In 
an animal measured by my friend Dr. Murie, he found 
the entire length to be sixty feet; of this the head 
measured nearly twelve feet. 
This species, in common with most of the family 
Balcenopteridce , does not go far north as a rule, says 
Mr. E. Brown, who has bestowed much time and 
attention to the collection of valuable facts relating to 
Arctic zoology in his frequent expeditions. They feed 
upon cod and other fish, which they devour in 
immense quantities. Desmoulins mentions 600 being 
taken out of the stomach of one. Mr. Brown knew 
an instance in which 800 were found. They often, 
in common with Balcenoptera gigas and B. rostrata, 
wander into the European seas in pursuit of cod and 
herrings; and the skeleton of one recently captured 
