ROR'QUAL, Rorqualus, Balccnoptera, or Plrysalus, a genus of cetacea of the same family (babrnidcr) to which the Greenland whale belongs, and distinguished by having a dorsal tin, which, however, is not large in comparison with the size of the animal, and is painted, the point directed backward; and also by the form of the head, which, instead of having the upper jaw much arched, as in the Greenland whale, has it in the skeleton nearly straight, the plates of baleen or whalebone being, therefore, much shorter, while along the throat and belly are many longitudinal folds, allowing of the distention of the integuments so as to form a Treat pouch for the reception of and prey, to be afterward sifted by the plates of baleen. For a long time these folds of the throat and belly were a puzzle to naturalists, but their use seems now to be thoroughly ascertained. The form more elongated than in the Greenland whale, and as the girth of the largest rorquals has been fdund equal to that of the largest Greenland whales, the rorquals appear to be the largest of the cetacea, and indeed of all animals at present existing in the world. The northern rorqual sometimes rather exceeds 100 ft. in length. Concerning the species of this genus, there is great doubt and uncertainty. Some . naturalists confidently assert the existence of several species in the northern seas, and a genus, rorqualas or phpalus, has been constituted distinct from bakenoptera, the largest species being referred to the former; and a smaller one, said not to exceed 25 ft. in length, and known as the pike &bulb% from the resemblance of the month to that of a pike, being assigned to the latter. Other naturalists of no mean. reputation doubt if the pike whale (bakeitoptera rostrata or B. muscalu0 is anything else than the young of the great northern rorqual (R. troops), thefin-fid or razor-back of whalers. The question was supposed to have been determined by Mr. F. Knox of Edinburgh, who found the number of vertebrae to be different in specimens cast upon the Scottish shores; but the number of vertebrae has been found so different in other specimens examined that either this must be a comparatively unimportant character, or the number of species must be greater titan has been supposed, The northern rorqual is of a slate-gray color, whitish beneath. It is found in the arctic seas, visiting also those of the northern temperate
regions, and is not very infrequent on the coasts of Britain. When it comes to the surface of the water to blow, it does not lie motionless, as the Greenland whale usually does, but swims at the rate of about five miles nn hour. and in blowing, it makes prodigious noise. Its speed. when harpooned, is very great. Scoresby mentions at instance of one carrying out 3,000 ft. of line in a minute. It is hot easily captured; an whalers dislike it, because the Greenland whale is seldom found near it, while its own value is very inferior, owing to the comparative thinness of the blubber, and the short ness and inferior quality of the whalebone. It is, however. an important object of pursuit to the Laplanders and Greenlanders, who wear it out by assailing it with weapon after weapon, and finally divide the spoil. A large rorqual yieldS 4,000 gallons of rorqual does not feed so exclusively on small molluSks, etc.—as the Greenland whale. Its gullet is much wider, and it preys much on fiAbeS; the shoals of which it follows into bays and estuaries, devouring them in The stomach of a rorqual has been found to contain 600 large cod, and a great quantity of pilchards. One which frequented the firth of Forth for 20 years Was well known to ' the fishermen there, and much detested by them. It was at last stranded at Abercorn in . 1692. It was 78 ft. long.—In the southern seas, another species of rorqual is found (B., B., or P. Australis), which has a long dorsal fin, placed further forward than in the northern rorqual. It attains a large size. The South sea whalers not care to pursue it. Its range seems to extend to the northern hemisphere in the Pacific.