Poeskop, the Poeskop, or Cape Hump-Back. It is the 'torque.' du Cap of Cuvicr, the B. Lalandii of Fischer, and B. Capensis of Andrew Smith; the Hump-Backed Whale of Ross's ' Antarctic Voyage.' It is an inhabitant of the seas of the Cape of Good Hope.
M. Kazira, the Kuzira. It inhabits the Japanese seas.
Balamoptera rostrata, the Pike-Whale. It is the Bahrna rostrata, Muller ; Rorqualus rostrata:, Dckay ; Balamoptera microcephala, Brandt; Rorqualus Boops, P. Cuvier. It is of a black colour, under neath of a reddish white. It inhabits the North Sea, and has been found,in New York Bay, at Valognes in France, and a specimen was taken in the Thames at Deptford.
Physa /us A nt iquoru m, the Razor-Back. It is the Balerna Art/quorum of Fischer, and probably the Great Northern Rorqual of Knox and Jardine ; the Rorqual de la 3Iediterran6e of Cuvier. It is of a slate gray colour, whitish beneath. The baleen is slate-coloured, the under edge blackish, the inner edge pale-streaked. It is an inhabitant of the North Sea, and is sometimes found on the coasts of Groat Britain. There is a skeleton at Black Gang Chine in the Isle of Wight 75 feet long. It was taken in 1842. A specimen was taken at Berwick in 1831. There is a skeleton of one also at Plymouth 74i feetlong. This animal was found floating in Plymouth Sound on the 2nd of October 1831. It is stated to have been 102 feet long and 75 feet in circum ference. This specimen was taken round the country in three cara vans. Dr. J. E. Gray refers the skeleton of the whale now in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens to this species. It was 80 feet long, and was taken off North Berwick in 1833.
P. (Rorqualua) Boops of Gray has been taken off the coast of Wales. Tho length of the specimen in the British 31useilin is 38 feet ; the head is 9 feet long, the vertebras are 60 in number, and them are 15 pairs of single ribs. It was taken in 1846, and was mentioned in the papers of the day as a Spermaceti Whale.
P. (Rorqualus) Sibbaldii. A specimen of this species exists in the museum at Huth It is 50 feet long.
P. fascietus, the Peruvian Pinner, described by Tachudi, has been found on the coasts of Peru.
I'. 1ecasi, the Japan Pinner. It is very rare ; one was cast ashore at Kii in 1760. It was 25 feet long.
P. antarcticus, named from the baleen of a New Zealand species by Dr. J. Gray.
P. Brasile:en:is, the Bahia Pinner. Named from baleen; brought from Bahia.
1'. matrons, Southern Pinner, inhabits the scan of the Falkland Islands.
The family of CATODONTIDA: includes the Toothed Whales. The genera are as follows :— Catodon, Dorsal hump rounded. Blowers on front of truneaterl head. Skull elongate.
Kogio. Dorsal hump. Blowers (1). Skull short, broad.
Ph pet er. Dorsal fin falcate. Blower on back of forehead. Skull elongate.
The head presents a very thick blunt extremity, constituting about ..a third of the whole length of the animal ; at its junction with the body is a large protuberance on the back called the bunch of the neck.' Immediately behind this is the thickest part of the body,
which from thence gradually tapers off to the tail, but it does not become much smaller for about another third of the whole length, when the small' or tail commences ; and at this point also, on the back, is a large pyramidal prominence called the hump,' from which a series of smaller processes run half way down the small '- or tail, constituting what the whalers term the 'ridge.' The body then con tracts so much as to become finally not thicker than that of a man, and terminates by expanding on the sides into the 'flukes ' or tail, forming a large triangular horizontal fin with a slight notch or depression posteriorly between the flukes, which are about 6 or 8 feet in length, and from 12 to 14 feet in breadth in the largest males or bulls.' The chest and belly are narrower than the broadest part of the back, and taper off evenly towards the tail ; the depth of the head and body is, in all parts except the tail, greater than the width. The bead, viewed in front, presents a broad somewhat flattened surface, rounded and contracted above, considerably expanded on the sides, and gradually contracted below, resembling in some degree the cutwater of a ship. The slit of the single blowing-hole or nostril is about 12 inches in length. In the right side of the nose is the ' case,' a cavity for the purpose of secreting and containing an oily fluid, which after death concretes into a granulated yellowish substance : this is the Spermaceti. In the case of a large whale there is not un frequently a ton, or more than ten barrels of spermaceti. Beneath the case and nostril is the elastio junk,' formed of dense cellular tissue, strengthened by strong tendinous fibres, and infiltrated with very fine sperm-oil and spermaceti. The month extends nearly the whole length of the head. Both the jaws, especially the lower, are contracted in front to a very narrow point ; and when the mouth is closed the lower jaw is received within a sort of cartilaginous lip, or projection of the upper one : but principally in front; for, farther back at the sides, and towards the angle of the mouth, both jaws are furnished with tolerably well-developed lips. The tongue is small and white. The throat is capacious enough to give passage to the body of a man, presenting a strong contrast to the contracted gullet of the Greenland Whale. Throughout, the mouth is lined with a pearly white membrane. The eyes are small in proportion to the size of the animal, and are furnished with eyelids, the lower of which is most moveable. At a short distance behind the eyes are the external openings of the ears, sufficiently large to admit a small quill. Not far from the posterior angle of the mouth are the swimming paws or fins, which are not much used in progression, but probably more as balances, and occasionally in supporting the young.