IN THE THAMES AT NORTH WOOLWICH. 191
the Woolwich whale. I only saw one of the young ones, which
was a Balaenoptera. From the description given me of the size of
the old one, I judged the species to be B. musculus." In a com-
munication to Nature Mr. Lydekker states that the young one
differed from the adult in that the under surface of the body was
flesh-coloured instead of white. This whale, the Rorqual or
"Finner Whale" has been several times stranded in the
estuaries of the Thames, and two instances of its appearance in
the Crouch River are recorded in the Essex Naturalist (vol. v.
pp. 124 and 134). The first specimen was very carefully described
and well figured by Mr. W. Crouch in our journal, and the
d awing is repeated in Dr. Laver's Mammals, &c., of Essex.
Whale Stranded at North Woolwich, November 27th, 1899.
We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. Harris, Contractor,
of North Woolwich, for two photographs, one of which is here
reproduced. It unfortunately does not show the poor Cetacean
very clearly, but will serve to give a vivid idea of the size of an
animal which is probably the largest living creature. We have
not heard what has become of the Woolwich calf, but the
mother was towed out to sea by the sanitary authorities. It will
be remembered that there is a life size half-model of Balaenoptera
musculus in the Whale-room at the British Museum of Natural
History, together with a like representation of the Tilbury
specimen of the allied species, Rudolphi's Rorqual, B. borealis
(see E.N., vol. ii., pp. 41-46).