Rorqual n. (Zool.) A very large North Atlantic whalebone whale (Physalus antiquorum, or Balaenoptera physalus). It has a dorsal fin, and strong longitudinal folds on the throat and belly. Called also razorback. Note: It is one of the largest of the whales, somethimes becoming nearly one hundred feet long, but it is more slender than the right whales, and is noted for its swiftness. The name is sometimes applied to other related species of finback whales.
... known inferentially to geological science. Indeed when we consider the extraordinary compactness and rotundity of the modern cetaceans, as compared with the tall limbs and straggling skeleton of the huge Jurassic deinosaurs, I am inclined to believe that the tonnage of a decent modern rorqual must positively exceed that of the gigantic Atlantosaurus, the great lizard of the west, in propria persona. I doubt, in short, whether even the solid thigh-bone of the deinosaur could ever have supported the prodigious ... — Falling in Love - With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science • Grant Allen Read full book for free!
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