134 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



period of gestation being about nine months. I am, however, 

 inclined to think that most Finners give birth to their calves in the 

 latter part of the year. I am informed of one curious case. A 

 Firmer cow, dead for several hours, was drawn up on the slip to be 

 cut up. As soon as it reached the place where it was to be flensed, 

 it gave birth to a dead calf, i 7 feet long, with the small blades of 

 baleen showing clearly above the gum. 



Two most experienced managers of whale stations in Iceland, 

 Norway, and Shetland assure me that the B. musculus and B. sibbaldii 

 never cross, and that they have never seen a so-called " Bastard 

 whale." 



BALEEN. 



There is considerable variation in the number of plates in the 

 jaw. In 1904 I found 375 plates on one side, in 1905 I counted 

 388 plates. The whale was lying on its left side, as in the illustra- 

 tion. The first anterior 120 plates were yellow and had no grey 

 markings, the next 50 showed slight grey lines, thereafter the plates 

 become more and more grey, till the posterior plates are quite grey. 

 The plates on the right side of the anterior part of the jaw are 

 yellowish-white, but on the left side they are almost always grey. 

 It is very hard to understand why this should be. I can only con- 

 jecture that it may have something to do with the feeding of the 

 whale. In feeding, the whale lies on its side and swims in circles 

 sucking in its food. Is it possible that the light colour of the right 

 side of the whale is adapted by Nature for attracting the food ? 

 Or, if the whale feeds only on its left side, that the light affects the 

 colour of the anterior plates on the right side ? Or is the colouring 

 just a freak of nature? The lower jaw, as the illustration shows, 

 projects considerably. A little below the top there is a double row 

 of hairs, about twelve in a row. The upper jaw has no hairs for 

 three feet from the snout, then there is a double row, about one 

 foot apart, to beyond the blow-hole. 



COLOUR. 



Seen in the water, and I have been within twenty yards of 

 different whales, the colour of a whale appears to be black. When 

 killed it proves to be a very dark grey, which shades gradually into 

 a steel grey, and below the median line it fades off into white. The 

 colouring, however, varies in different individuals, some appear to be 

 lighter, and others darker. 



BAL^ENOPTERA SIBBALDII. 



The Alexandra station got one Blue whale in 1905, a cow of 

 63 feet containing a foetus. The Olna station had five, and the 



