Sub-Order 1. Mystacoceti

This division is thus characterised:—Teeth are never functionally developed; they are present in the young, but replaced in the adult by the baleen or whalebone; the external respiratory aperture is double; the skull is perfectly symmetrical; the rami of the mandible are arched outwards and do not form a true symphysis; the sternum is always composed of a single piece of bone; the ribs articulate only with the transverse processes of the vertebrae.

The Mystacoceti are nearly invariably huge creatures, the sole exceptions being the Pygmy Right Whale, Neobalaena, and a small Rorqual. But even these are larger than the majority of Toothed Whales.

The most characteristic feature by which the Whalebone Whales are to be distinguished from other Whales is that which gives to them their name, the presence of whalebone. Whalebone is a horny product of the epithelium lining the mouth, and is comparable to an exaggeration of the transverse ridges which are found in the mouths of all mammals upon the palate. In non-Cetacean mammals these ridges vary in depth, and are arranged as a rule transversely, but with an oblique inclination. This is precisely how the plates of baleen are disposed in the mouth of a Whale. Each piece of "bone" is triangular in shape, the broader end being that of attachment while it narrows gradually; the inner side of the blades is frayed out into a number of threads which form the straining apparatus. The plates vary in length up to as great an extreme length as 13 feet, which occurs in the Right Whale at times. The colour is black or paler, even white. The number of these plates in the mouth is very great. As many as 370 blades have been counted. They diminish in length towards both ends of the series. Though whalebone has been in use for a long period, whence the whalebone came was formerly one of those things not generally known.

Fig. 189.—Section of upper jaw, with baleen plates, of Balaenoptera. a, Bone of jaw; b, gum; c, straight edge of baleen plate; d, e, frayed out surface of baleen plates. (After Owen.)

A very prevalent notion was that the whalebone formed the eyelids or perhaps the eyelashes of the creature. Scaliger, commenting upon Aristotle, held that the whale had "lamellae upon the eyebrows, which, when the head is plunged below the surface, were raised by the water; but when the animal raised its head above the waves the lamellae fell and covered the eyes." Whalebone, too, has been often spoken of as "the fin of a whale," "the finnes that stand forth of their mouths." The value of whalebone is still great, in spite of various substitutes which are now used in its place. In the year 1897, for example, the value of this article was £2000 per ton. As a single Whale may produce several tons of this material, it is not surprising to find that the results of a whaling voyage may be very profitable.

Fam. 1. Balaenopteridae.—This genus Balaenoptera includes the Rorquals, which are Whalebone Whales of large size, differing from the Right Whales in three important external characters: the head is comparatively small; there is a dorsal fin; the throat is marked by numerous longitudinal furrows. The bones of the cranium are not so arched as in the Right Whales, and as a consequence the plates of baleen are shorter. The hand is only four-fingered. The cervical vertebrae are for the most part all free. One of the earliest records of a Whale stranded in the Thames was probably of a species of this genus in the year 1658, and is thus described by John Evelyn:—"A large whale was taken betwixt my land butting on the Thames and Greenewich, which drew an infinite concourse to see it, by water, horse, coach, and on foot, from London and all parts.... It was killed with a harping yron, struck in the head, out of which spouted blood and water by two tunnells, and after an horrid grone it ran quite on shore and died. Its length was 58 foot, heighth 16; black skinn'd like coach leather, very small eyes, greate taile, onely two small finns, a picked snout, and a mouth so wide that divers men might have stood upright in it; no teeth, but suck'd slime onely as thro' a grate of that bone which we call whalebone, the throate yet so narrow as would not have admitted the least of fishes ... all of it prodigious, but in nothing more wonderful that an animal of so greate a bulk should be nourished onely by slime thro' those grates."

Professor Collett has recently given an elaborate account of the characters and habits of this great Whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Though a large beast (44 to 67 feet in length) it is exceeded by other Rorquals; it is of a dark grey blue colour above, white, for the most part, below. The dorsal fin is large and high; the flippers relatively slender and small. The whole throat from the symphysis of the jaws to the middle of the belly is, as in other species, marked by furrows, forty to fifty-eight in number. The hairy covering is reduced (in an adult female) to thirteen hairs on each side of the lower jaw; in a foetus there were also seven hairs on each side of the upper jaw, as well as rather more on the lower jaw—altogether, forty-eight. This Whale appears to feed chiefly upon small Crustacea, especially the Copepod, Calanus finmarchicus. The number of baleen plates is about 330 on each side of the jaw. This Whale sometimes swims singly, but usually in schools of even as many as fifty.

Rudolphi's Rorqual (B. borealis) seems to be a perfectly inoffensive beast; it is said to be able to stay under water for as long a time as twelve hours.

A smaller species than the last is B. rostrata—at the outside 33 feet in length. Here the hairy covering is reduced to "two small hairs on the integument covering the apex of the lower maxilla." The colour is greyish black above, the underside white. On the other hand, B. sibbaldii, the Blue Whale, is the giant of its race, reaching a length of 85 feet. Its colour is a dark bluish grey, with small whitish spots on the breast. The dorsal fin is small and low with straight margins.

B. musculus, the Finner, is intermediate in size—not more than 70 feet. It seems doubtful whether the "sulphur bottom," B. australis, of Antarctica and B. patachonica differ specifically from this.

The genus Megaptera is very near Balaenoptera, but differs from it mainly in the following external and internal characters. The dorsal fin is not very prominent, and its place is taken by a lowish hump, whence, indeed, the common name of this Whale, "Humpback." The pectoral fin is unusually long, and the creature uses it to beat itself, the surrounding water, and, more playfully, its mates. The general outline of this Cetacean is more clumsy than that of Balaenoptera. The most important internal difference is in the form of the scapula, which has at most a slight acromion and coracoid process. These are rather more pronounced, according to Messrs. van Beneden and Gervais, in the southern form of the genus, which is known as M. lalandii. The head, it should also be remarked, is studded with large tubercles about the size of an orange, which seem to be hyper-trophied rudiments of the hairs, which should be present in this region of the body. As is the case with other Whales, numerous species have been made out of individuals of Megaptera. Captain Scammon, who observed many "gams" or herds of these Whales, remarked that he had extreme difficulty in finding any two individuals precisely alike! The best-known species in any case is the northern M. longimana, which occurs on our own coasts. The genus is, like so many Cetaceans, world-wide in range; and it is possible that the difference in the scapula already referred to may justify the separation of a southern M. lalandii (with which in that case, perhaps, M. capensis and M. novae zelandiae will be synonymous). Quite recently M. Gervais has insisted upon a Megaptera indica from the Persian Gulf. Megaptera grows to a length of 50 to 60 feet. Seventy-five feet have been stated, but measurements of Whales have usually to be received with caution.

Rhachianectes, with but one species, R. glaucus, the "Californian Grey Whale," is the last genus of the family Balaenopteridae. This Whale is but imperfectly known anatomically; but quite sufficient has been ascertained to show its great divergence from Balaenoptera or Megaptera. The dorsal fin is completely absent, and the throat pleats, so characteristic of the typical Balaenopteridae, are reduced to two. It has, however, the general outline of a Rorqual, with a relatively small head. In osteological characters it tends to unite the two families Balaenopteridae and Balaenidae (if they are really necessary subdivisions). The skull is on the whole Rorqual-like; but its fore-part is narrow as in the Greenland Whale, and the premaxillaries are pinched up in the middle line so as to be visible from the side; this again is a Balaenid character. The cervical vertebrae are free as in Rorquals, and the sternum is quite as in that group. The scapula has more the shape of that of Balaena.

Rhachianectes glaucus is confined to the Pacific, and has been extensively hunted from the shore. It is not, however, a very valuable Whale, since the baleen is short as in Rorquals, and the beast, moreover, appears to be fierce, a somewhat rare attribute of Whales. It has been spoken of, indeed, as "a cunning, courageous, and vicious" animal. Rhachianectes is essentially a coast Whale, and loves to lie in the surf in quite shallow water waiting for the tide to float it off. This Whale varies much in colour from black to mottled grey and black, and reaches a length of about 40 feet.

Fam. 2. Balaenidae.—The Right Whales of the genus Balaena are to be distinguished from Neobalaena and from the Rorquals by the following characters:—

The size is large, 50 to 60 feet. There is no dorsal fin. The head is more than or nearly one-fourth of the entire length of the animal. The baleen is very long. The throat is not grooved. The orbital process of the frontal is not wider than the downward process of the maxilla. The cervical vertebrae are all fused. The scapula is rather high. The hind-limb has the rudiment of a tibia. The intestine has no caecum.

A vast number of different genera have been founded on detached bones, bits of whalebone, and more or less complete skeletons of Right Whales coming from different parts of the world. In Dr. Gray's catalogues we find the following allowed, viz. Balaena, Eubalaena, Hunterius, Caperea, Macleayius. The number of "species" distributed among the genera is some thirteen or more, with whose names we shall not trouble the reader. As a matter of fact there are not more than two species which can with certainty be identified and distinguished, both of which are so close that they cannot possibly be placed but in the same genus, Balaena. In no group of Whales—in no group of animals probably—has imagination run riot to so terrible an extent in the formation of genera and species as in these Right Whales. This multiplication or rather division of genera has arisen from an old idea that Whales coming from different seas must be of different kinds, a notion now thoroughly exploded.

The term "Right Whale" simply means that the Whales of this genus are the right kind of Whale for the whaler to pursue. Their whalebone is longer and more valuable, while the oil is not only more abundant but of a superior quality. The two species demand a separate account.

The Greenland Whale, Balaena mysticetus, is one of the rare instances of a Whale which has an exceedingly limited range in space. It is absolutely confined to the Arctic Ocean, and reported occurrences on our coasts are due to a confusion with B. australis, to be presently described. At the "Devil's Dyke," near Brighton, there is, or was, the skull of a most flagrant Rorqual, which is carefully labelled "Greenland Whale." This Whale grows to a length of 50, 60, rarely 70 feet. It is black in colour, save for a white patch on the under side of the jaw. The head is quite one-third of the body in length. There are a few scattered hairs at the extremity of the jaws. The length of time which this Whale can endure immersion has been variously stated. The utmost limit of endurance is stated by Scammon to be one hour and twenty minutes. The pursuit of this Whale is attended by dangers, not in the least because the animal is itself fierce and ready to attack, but simply on account of the velocity with which, and the great depth to which, it will dive, and also to the huge muscular force which is exerted in its struggles to free itself from the harpoons. It is indeed an extremely timid beast. It has been remarked that "a bird alighting upon its back sometimes sets it off in great agitation and terror." Combined with this timidity of disposition is an intense affection for its young, "which would do honour," observed Scoresby, "to the superior intelligence of human beings." Yet that trader and observer goes on to remark that "the value of the prize ... cannot be sacrificed to feelings of compassion"! The fact that this Whale and its congener, B. australis, feed among swarms of minute pelagic creatures, which they engulf in their huge mouths, led the ancients to believe and assert that they fed upon water only. When the Whale feeds it moves along with some velocity, taking in huge mouthfuls of sea water with the contained organisms, which are then strained off by the whalebone and left stranded upon the tongue.

Unlike its congener, the southern Right Whale, B. australis, is world-wide in distribution, avoiding only the Arctic regions. Where the Greenland Whale is found B. australis does not exist. The principal differences which it shows from B. mysticetus are firstly in the relatively shorter head and shorter and coarser whalebone. In the second place it has more ribs, fifteen pairs as against thirteen; but there is apparently some little confusion in the matter of ribs. An additional rib at the end of the series is apt to get lost, and in the skeleton of so huge and unmanageable a beast there is nothing more unwise than to insist upon, as specific characters, what may be due merely to defective preparation. This Whale has often, and the Greenland Whale also, a rough horny protuberance upon the snout known as the "bonnet." The causation of this is not clear. It has been spoken of as "a rudimentary frontal horn." But this suggestion of an Ungulate affinity can hardly be accepted. It seems to be more like a kind of corn.

This Whale was once more abundant on the coasts of Europe than it is to-day; it was much hunted by the Basques in past time. The Whale which frequented the Bay of Biscay was usually called the Biscayan Whale or B. biscayensis; but there is probably no specific difference. Among the small towns which fringe the Bay, it is very common to find the Whale incorporated into the armorial bearings. "Over the portal of the first old house in the steep street of Guetaria," writes Sir Clements Markham, "there is a shield of arms consisting of Whales amid waves of the sea. At Motrico the town arms consist of a Whale in the sea harpooned, and with a boat with men holding the line." Plenty of other such examples testify to the prevalence of the whaling industry on these adjoining coasts of Spain and France. It appears that though the fishery began much earlier—even in the ninth century—the first actual document relating to it dates from the year 1150. It is in the shape of privileges granted by Sancho the Wise to the city of San Sebastian. The trade was still very flourishing in the sixteenth century. Rondeletius the naturalist described Bayonne as the centre of the trade, and tells us that the flesh, especially of the tongue, was exposed for sale as food in the markets.

M. Fischer, who, as well as Sir Clements Markham, has given an important account of the whaling industry on the Basque shores, quotes an account of the methods pursued in the sixteenth century. It was at Biarritz—or as Ambroise Pare, from whom Fischer quotes, spelt it, Biaris—that the main fisheries were undertaken. The inhabitants set upon a hill a tower from which they could see "the Balaines which pass, and perceiving them coming partly by the loud noise they make, and partly by the water which they throw out by a conduit which they possess in the middle of the forehead." Several boats then set out in pursuit, some of which were reserved for men whose sole duty it was to pick out of the water their comrades who had overbalanced themselves in their excitement. The harpoons bore a mark by which their respective owners could recognise them, and the carcase of the animal was shared in accordance with the numbers and owners of the harpoons found sticking in the dead body of the Whale. At this period the fishery was at its height. But it continued to be an occupation along those shores until the beginning of the eighteenth century, after which it gradually declined. The fishery of Whales began to be carried farther afield than the shore, and for a long time the Basques furnished expert harpooners to whaling vessels proceeding to the Arctic seas. A curious example of the continuance of the fishery until at least 1712 is given by Sir C. Markham. In the parish records of Lequeito for that year, it is noted that a couple were married who possessed between them all the necessary outfit for a whaling cruise.

The genus Neobalaena is interesting from more than one point of view. Its size compared with its gigantic relatives is small, some 16 or 17 feet. The genus bears the same kind of proportion to Balaena that Kogia does to Physeter among the Physeteridae. It is one of those Whales which are very restricted in habitat; up to the present it is only known from the Antarctic region in the neighbourhood of New Zealand and South Australia. Structurally it is in a few points intermediate between the Right Whales and the Rorquals. The head is proportionately (as well as, of course, actually) not so large as in Balaena. There is a falcate dorsal fin; but the head in outline is not Rorqual-like in spite of its similar proportions. The whalebone is long. The throat is not grooved. Neobalaena has forty-three vertebrae, of which the cervicals are all fused. There are as many as seventeen or eighteen dorsal vertebrae, the largest number in any Cetacean as far as is known. With these are articulated not eighteen but only seventeen ribs. The first dorsal vertebra appears to be without a rib. The ribs are very broad and flat. The body thus gets an appearance of a Sirenian. The lumbar vertebrae are fewer than in any other Cetacean, being only two. The scapula is more like that of the Rorquals than that of the Right Whales; that is to say, it is long and not very high. The skull is most like that of Balaena, but the process of the frontal arching over the eye is broader relatively than in Balaena, and thus approaches Balaenoptera. Nothing is known of the viscera of this Whale. The whalebone is white, and the animal was first described by Dr. Gray from pieces of "bone." It is not always that so fortunate a diagnosis of specific or generic difference has been made from a structure which apparently offers so little aid for discrimination.

There is but a single species of the genus which is named Neobalaena marginata.