OCR Text |
Show 516 PROF, F L O W E R O N RUDOLPHI'S RORQUAL. [NOV. 20, The osteological characters of this species of Rorqual are well known, from the description by Rudolphi1 of a specimen stranded in 1819 on the coast of Holstein, the skeleton of which is still preserved in the Berlin Anatomical Museum ; from the description which I gave in the ' Proceedings ' of this Society for 1864 of two skeletons, one in the Leiden and the other in the Brussels Museum ; and from the subsequent figures and descriptions of the same specimens published in the great work on the Osteography of the Cetacea by Van Beneden and Gervais. More recently P. Fischer has given some notes upon a young individual, stranded July 29th, 1874, between Bidart and Biarritz (Basses-Pyrenees), the skeleton of which is preserved in the Museum of Bayonne2 ; and Professor Turner has described an older one (about 38 feet long) which was captured near Bo'ness, in the Firth of Forth, in September 18723, the skeleton of which is now in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh. This is certainly the least common of the four species of Rorquals known to inhabit the North Atlantic, and the one of the occurrence of which in British waters there are fewest records. In fact, except the one just mentioned as described hj Professor Turner, there is no other well-authenticated case ; although it is possible that the Whale stranded at Charmouth, in Dorset, in 1840, described by Sweeting (P.Z. S. 1840, p. II)4, was one. Unfortunately none of its bones were preserved to authenticate its specific characters ; and it might have been a young individual of one of the larger species, B. musculus or B. sibbaldii. There has been considerable confusion about the nomenclature of this species, as of most other Whales. The first specimen which came distinctly under the notice of any zoologist was that mentioned above, carefully described by Rudolphi, who, however, erroneously identified it with B. rostrata of Fabricius and Hunter, a distinct and well-known species. The skeleton was afterwards described under the name of "Rorqual du Nord" by Cuvier5, who compared and contrasted it with the " Rorqual de la Mediterranee," which is now known as B. musculus. Lesson, in 18286, translated Cuvier's name into Latin, calling it Balanoptera borealis, but including under the same designation another specimen now known to belong to a different species; but still Rudolphi's Whale was the type. Fischer7 also uses the same name for a number of Whales of several species, including Rudolphi's, which is placed second on the list, the first being an example of B. rostrata, miscalled by Albers B. boops. 1 Abhandl. der konigl. Akad. za Berlin, 1820, p. 27. 2 "Cetaces du Sud-ouest de la France," Actes de la Societe Linneenne de Bordeaux, t. xxxv. 1881, p. 81; also ' Comptes Eendus,' t. lxxxiii. p. 1298, Dec. 27, 1876, and ' Journal de Zoologie.' v. p. 462, 1876. 3 Journ. Anatomy and Physiology, April 1882, p. 471. 4 See also Mag. Nat, Hist. 1840, p. 342, and Ami. & Mag. Nat. Hist, vi n 72 Sept. 1841. 'F ' 8 ' Ossemens Fossiles,' v. p. 564 (1823). 6 ' Hist. Nat. des Cetaces ' (Complement de Buffon), p. 342. 7 ' Synopsis Mammalium,' p. 524 (1829). |