History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

Bal*na. MAMMALIA. CETACEA.3:B. Back destitute of a protuberance or fin.Gen. XXXI. BAL.ENA.Head large.Whale.— Upper lipwhiskered.48. B. Mysticetus.Common Whale. Gapearched.of the mouthScoresby's Arct. Reg. i. 449. tab. xii.The intelligent author whom we have now quoted, and whose figure is theonly one worth quoting, considers a full grown whale of the ordinary size asnot exceeding CO feet in length, and 40 feet in circumference, and as weighingabout 70 tons, the blubber 30 tons." The upper jaw, including the crown boneor skull, is bent down at the extremity so far as to shut the front and upperparts of the cavity of the mouth, and isoverlapped by the lips in a squamousmanner at the sides." The swimmers are placed about 2 feet behind the angleof the mouth. The tail reaches to 26 feet in breadth. Laminae of baleen 300in number in each series, and sometimes 15 feet in length the whole weighing;a ton and half. A slight beard, consisting of a few short scattered whitehairs, surmounts the anterior extremity of both jaws. Its food consists ofsmall marine insects. Sir Charles Giesecke (Article Greenland, Ed. En. x.499.) states the length of a female, killed in the spring of 1813, at 67 feet.Another killed in 181 1, measured as follows " : From the centre of the mouthto the point of the tail 56 feet. From the point of the under lip to the rootof the fins, 23i feet. From the fins to the point between the two lobes orwings of the tail 33 feet. The length of the head was 18 feet. From themiddle point of the upper lip to the blowholes 16^ feet. The length of oneof the fins 8 feet 4 inches. The thickness of a fin, on its thickest part, 1 foot9 inches. The breadth of the tail from one extremity of its wings to theother, 22 feet 7 inches. The length of one of the blowholes 1 1 inches. Therewere thirteen ribs on each side."Sibbald (Fhal. p. 65.) states, that an individual of this species came ashorenear Peterhead in 1682, and measured 70 feet. The species referred to byWilloughby (Ichthyologia, p. 37-), as having come ashore at Tynemouth, wasprobably a Physalis, as it is stated to have been 30 yards in length, and tohave had 30 ribs.Though the whale appears formerly to have been frequently met with inour seas, yet now, when the fishery isprosecuted with zeal and success, andthe geographical limits of the species, in consequence, greatly reduced, it scarcelymerits a place among British animals, as it occurs only at distant intervalsas a straggler.I. Palate destitute of baleen. Furnished with teeth, externalorifice of the bloio-holc single.A. Blow-hole double, being" divided within by a bony septum.a. Teeth, numerous, in both jazas.Gen. XXXII. DELPHINUS. Dolphin.—A dorsal fin.Destitute of a caecum.1. Snout short and blunt. Phoccena o/*Cuv.49- D. Phoccena. Porpess. — Teeth compressed and oblique.Sibb. Scot. 23— Will. Ich. p. 31—Borl. Corn. p. 264. tab. xxvii. f. 2—Monro, Phys. Fishes, p. 45. tab. xxxv.— Fleming, Phil. Zool. ii. p. 209VOL. I.r