Pectoral skin without longitudinal folds.

Balsenoptera Gibbar, Scoresb. Arct. Reg. vol. 1. p. 478. Physalis vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 32. Fin-Fish, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 57. Fin-backed Mysticete, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. 11. p. 490. pl. 227.

Dimensions

Entire length about one hundred feet: greatest circumference from thirty to thirty-five feet.

Description

The longest of the Cetaceous tribe. Body more slender, and less cylindrical than that of the B. Mysticetus ; considerably compressed at the sides, and angular on the back: head smaller than in that species; the snout more pointed, with the jaws nearly equal; the whalebone shorter, the longest lamina measuring about four feet: a small horny protuberance, or dorsal fin, near the extremity of the back: pectorals long and narrow. Colour pale bluish black, or dark bluish gray.

Apparently of equal rarity in the British seas with. the species last described. It is included by Pennant in his British Zoology, but it is not said on what authority.