66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Norrona 55 bulls average 63.9 feet, 36 cows average 67.4 feet. 

 Shetland 33 62.6 25 ,, 65.9 



Alexandra 36 ,, 62.4 ,, 20 ,, 64.8 ,, 



To take the largest whales caught by each station 



Norrona 9 bulls of 70 feet and over, 5 largest 78, 77, 77, 75, 75 feet. 

 Norrona 14 cows 5 78, 76, 75, 75, 73 



Shetland largest bull, 68 feet; 6 cows over 70 feet, 75, yij, 70, 



70, 70 feet. 

 Alexandra largest bull, 68 feet ; 3 cows over 70 feet 72, 71,70 feet. 



Possibly the measuring of the Norrona whales was not in 

 quite a straight line, but the measurements of the Shetland 

 and Alexandra stations are near enough to give a very fair 

 idea of the sizes of the whales. 



The Norwegians say the average length of an adult Finner 

 whale is 65 feet, and this is probably nearly correct. By 

 the table given above, the average length of 135 bulls was 

 62.9 feet, and the average length of 91 cows 66.0 feet, which 

 sufficiently proves that cows generally grow to a length of 3 

 feet more than bulls do, although the Norrona station figures 

 show that some bulls may attain to as great a length, which, 

 the Norwegians say, is sometimes the case. 



The girth of these whales varies greatly. A cow of 70 

 feet, measured by myself at the Alexandra station, was 33 

 feet round. At the Shetland station one of the same size 

 was 2 5 feet. At the Norrona station a cow of 7 5 feet was 

 42 feet. Two cows of 76 and 75 feet were both 30 feet. 

 A bull of 77 feet was 34 feet. A bull of 65 feet was 30 

 feet. Two cows of 73 and 72 feet were both 36 feet. 



It is interesting to notice the greater number of bulls to 

 cows. Out of 226 whales, 135 were bulls and 91 cows, or 

 60 per cent of bulls to 40 per cent of cows. Are there fewer 

 cows than bulls, or are the cows more difficult to approach ? 



I have measurements of four Megaptera boops, 30, 39, 40, 

 and 46 feet in length ; the last, a bull, was 3 I feet in girth, 

 the flippers 13 feet I o inches long. The colour of Megaptera 

 differs greatly in various specimens. In some the thorax is 

 white, also the flippers, which have a few black blotches. 

 In others the grooves on the thorax are black and the raised 

 parts white. In some the thorax and flippers are black and 



