and brought out a volume of Cent Croquis pour réjouir les Honnêtes Gens. His last piece of work, an advertisement of an exhibition, was done in November 1896. Rops died on the 23rd of August 1898, at Essonnes, Seine-et-Oise, on the estate he had purchased, where he lived in complete retirement with his family. Scorning display, Rops almost always opposed any exhibition of his works. However, he consented to join the Art Society of the “XX.,” formed at Brussels in 1884, as their revolutionary views were in harmony with the independence of his spirit. After his death, in 1899, the Libre Esthétique, which in 1894 had succeeded the “XX.,” arranged a retrospective exhibition, which included about fifty paintings and drawings by Rops. Rops was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He excelled in these three methods of artistic expression; but his engraved work is the most important, both as to mastery of technique and originality of ideas, though in all his talent was exceedingly versatile. Hardly any artist of the 19th century equalled him in the use of the dry-point and soft varnish. By his assured handling and admirable draughtsmanship, as well as the variety of his sometimes wildly fantastic conceptions, he made his place among the great artists of his time. “Giving his figures a character of grace which never lapses into limpness,” says his biographer, E. Ramiro, “he has analysed and perpetuated the human form in all the elegance and development impressed on it by modern civilization.”
In 1896 La Plume (Paris) devoted a special number to this artist, fully illustrated, by which the public were made aware how many of his works are unsuitable for display in the drawing-room or boudoir. E. Deman, the publisher at Brussels, brought out a volume in 1897 with the title, Félicien Rops et son œuvre—papers by various writers. We may also mention a study of Félicien Rops, by Eugène Demolder (Paris, Princebourde, 1894), and another by the same writer in Trois Contemporains (E. Deman, 1901); Les Ropsiaques, by Pierre Gaume, brought out in London, 1898; and the admirable notice by T. K. Huysmans in his volume called Certains. (O. M.*)
ROQUELAURE, a title derived from a small commune in France (dep. of Gers), and borne by a French family of Armagnac, one member of which was Antoine, baron de Roquelaure (1544–1625), who was in the service of Henry IV. before he became king, and after his accession was made master of the wardrobe, lieutenant-general in Auvergne (1576) and Guienne (1610), and marshal of France in 1614. His son, Gaston Jean Baptiste de Roquelaure (1617–1683), a celebrated wit, was created duke and peer of France in 1652, and was appointed governor of Guienne in 1679. Gaston’s son, Antoine Gaston Jean Baptiste de Roquelaure (1656–1738), carried on the family reputation for wit, and, in spite of his military incapacity, received the marshal’s bâton in 1724.
RORQUAL, a whale of a long and elongated shape, with a small back-fin and a number of longitudinal pleatings or folds on the throat (see Cetacea). The name rorqual refers to these folds, while the alternative title of finner, or fin-whale, marks an important difference between these whales (for there are several species) and right-whales. The furrows on the throat are numerous and close-set, the flipper is comparatively small, and the dorsal fin distinct. The head is relatively small, flat and pointed in front, the whalebone short and coarse, the body long and slender, and the tail much compressed before it expands into the “flukes.” Rorquals are the most abundant and widely distributed of all whales, being found in all seas, except the extreme Arctic and Antarctic regions. There are four distinct species of this genus in British seas. Firstly, Sibbald’s rorqual, or blue whale (Balaenoptera sibbaldi), the largest of all animals, attaining a length of 80 or even sometimes 85 ft. Its colour is dark bluish grey, with small whitish spots on the breast; the whalebone is black; the flippers are larger proportionally than in other rorquals, measuring one-seventh of the total length of the body; and the dorsal fin is small and placed far back. This whale has usually 64 vertebrae, of which 16 bear ribs. Like the others, this species seems to pass the winter in the open seas, and approaches the coast of Norway at the end of April or beginning of May. At this time its sole food is a small crustacean (Euphausia inermis), which swarms in the fjords. Secondly, we have the common rorqual (B. musculus, or B. physalus) with a length of from 65 ft. to 70 ft., and of a greyish slate-colour above and white underneath, and the whalebone slate-colour, variegated with yellow or brown. It has usually 62 vertebrae, of which 15 bear ribs. This is the commonest of all the large whales on the British coasts; scarcely a winter passing without the body of one being washed ashore, usually after stormy weather, and frequently on the south coast, as this species has a more southern range than the last, and enters the Mediterranean. It feeds largely on fish, and is frequently seen feasting among shoals of herrings. Thirdly comes Rudolphi's rorqual (B. borealis), a smaller species, scarcely attaining a length of 50 ft. It is bluish black above, with oblong light-coloured spots, whilst the under-parts are more or less white; the whole of the tail and both sides of the flippers are black; the whalebone is black, and the bristly ends fine, curling and white; the flippers are very small, measuring one-eleventh of the total length of the body. There are 56 vertebrae, with 14 pairs of ribs. This species, according to Dr. C. Collett, feeds chiefly on minute crustaceans, mainly Calanus finmarchicus and Euphausia inermis, and not on fish. Down to the last quarter of the 19th century it was considered the rarest of the whales of European seas, and was only known from a few individuals stranded on the coasts of northern Europe at long intervals. The most southern point at which it has been met with is Biarritz. Since the establishment of the whaling station near the North Cape it has been shown to be a regular summer visitor. Lastly, the lesser rorqual, B. rostrata, the sharp-nosed finner of American whalers, is the smallest species found in the northern seas, rarely exceeding 30 ft. in length. Its colour is greyish black above, whilst the under-side is white, including the whole of the lower side of the tail; the inner side of the flippers is also white, and there is a broad white band across the outer side, which is a very characteristic mark of the species; the whalebone is yellowish white. The dorsal fin in this and the preceding species is comparatively high, and placed far forwards on the body. This whale has usually 48 vertebrae, of which 11 bear ribs. It is common in summer in the fjords of Norway, and is often seen around the British Isles. It has been taken, though rarely, in the Mediterranean, and ranges as far north as Davis Strait.
Common Rorqual (Balaenoptera musculus).
Rorquals are met with in almost all seas, and nearly all the individuals carefully examined, whether from the North Pacific, the Australian seas or the Indian Ocean, come very near in structure to one or the other of the Atlantic forms described above, so much so that some zoologists believe that there are but four species, with an almost cosmopolitan range. Other naturalists, on the contrary, have described and named almost every individual specimen captured as belonging to a different species. See Whale and Hump-back Whale. (R. L.*)
RORSCHACH, a busy commercial town in the Swiss canton of St Gall, situated on the south-west shore of the Lake of Constance, and by rail 62 m. N.E. of Zürich, 10 m. S.E. of Romanshorn and 57 m. N. of Coire. In 1900 its population was 9140, mostly German-speaking, while there were 5935 Romanists to 3139 Protestants. From 1408 to 1798 it belonged to the abbot of St Gall, and then to the canton Säntis (named canton of St Gall in 1803) of the Helvetic Republic. It has always been a great commercial centre, though now superseded by Romanshorn as regards the corn trade. It has many industrial establishments, of which the chief is one for the manufacture of lace and
