History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

Bal.enoptera. MAMMALIA. CETACEA. 31broadest part.The baleen (or whalebone) was 3 feet in length. From thesnout to the eyes 13 feet 2 inches—from the angle of the mouth to the pectoralswimmers 6 feet 5 inches; these were 10 feet long, and 2 4 feet wherebroadest. Dorsal fin 3 feet long, 2 feet high, and distant from the middle ofthe tail 12 feet 10 inches. From the lower jaw to the navel, the skin on thebelly was regularly folded. Tail 184 feet wide. This individual had beenknown to the fishermen for twenty years, in its pursuits after the herring,and termed by them Hollie Pike, in consequence of the dorsal fin having beenperforated by a bullet.The animal killed in Scalpa Bay, November 14. 1808, of which Mr Scoresbvgives a figure and description from the notes of the late James Watson,Esq. of Orkney, seems, from its dimensions, to have been a young animal.The remarkable gibbosity of the lower jaw expressed in the figure, and whichcorresponds tolerably well with Sibbald's delineation, leads me to consider itas the Musculus." Its length was 174 feet; circumference 20. Length fromthe snout to the dorsal fin 1 2 4 feet ; from the snout to the pectoral fins5 feet; from the snout to the eye 34 feet ; and from the snout to the blowholes3 feet. Pectoral fins 2 feet long, and 7 inches broad; dorsal fin 15inches long by 9 inches high; tail 15 inches long by 44 feet broad. Largestwhalebone about 6 inches."According to Low (Nat. Hist. Oread, p. 158.), they are seen in the Orkneyseas in July and August, when herring and mackerel are abundant. AndDr Walker states (Essays, p. 529.), that they yearly frequent Loch Fyneduring the herring season.45. B. Boops. Sharp-lipped Whale.— Snout pointed.De Balaena tripinni quae rostrum acutum habet, et plicas in ventre, Sibb.Phal. 68. tab. i. lowest figure B. B. Linn. Syst.i. 106—B. rostrata,Hunter, Phil. Trans. 1787, p. 373. tab. xx— Fin-Whale, Weill, Wern.Mem. i. p. 201.The specimen described by Sibbald, which came ashore in November 1690near Burntisland in the Frith of Forth, was 46 feet in length, and 20 in circumference.The pectoral swimmers were 5 feet from the eye, and the dorsalfin 84 from the tail. From the navel to the snout 24 feet. Breadth ofthe tail 9 feet. The lower jaw, near the middle, was 4 feet in breadth, witha thickened margin. Tongue 5 feet long, and near the root 3 feet in breadth.The blow-holes were 6 feet 8 inches from the snout. The length of the gape10 feet.Eyes 3 feet from the blow-holes. The swimmers were 5 feet long,and 14 broad.The individual examined by Hunter was caught on the Doggerbank,and was 17 feet long. Upper jaw, from eye to eye, 1 foot 8 inches; lowerjaw 2 feet 6 inches. It had 7 vertebrae in the neck, 12 which may be reckonedto the back, and 27 to the tail, making 46 in the whole. The sternum wasflat, and of one bone, to which the first rib was articulated. There were 300lamina? of baleen, the greatest length of which was 5 inches, and the two jawsmet every where along their surface. The stomach consisted of five bags,the two first being the largest.The duodenum had longitudinal rugae orvalves. Furnished with a caecum. In the stomach were found the remainsof the dog-fish. Tongue little raised, having scarcely any lateral edges.In a male fin-whale examined by Mr Neill, and which came ashore at Alloaon the banks of the Forth, the length was 43 feet, and the greatest circumference20. Swimmers 5 feet long, and 1 broad. Dorsal fin 24 feet high, andnearly of the same breadth at the base, seated nearly over the vent, and about12 feet from the extremity of the tail, the last being 10 feet broad. Underjaw 14 feet long, 3 inches longer than the upper, and a little wider. Therewere about 300 laminae of baleen on each side, the largest 18 inches long.Distance from eye to eye 7 feet. Mr Neill mentions having examined a MS.account of another whale, by the late Dr Walker, which was cast ashore at2