534 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Family ESCHRICHTIDAE 



Eschrichtius glaucus: Gray Whale 



The gray whale is known to range northward through Bering 

 Sea, but we did not identify this species on any of our trips. 

 It should be explained that no one in our party felt himself ex- 

 pert enough to identify many of the whales that were seen. The 

 Captain and some of the ship's crew had had some experience 

 with whales, but they were unable to identify many that were 

 seen. Under such circumstances, our observations were exceed- 

 ingly sketchy, except for the more-easily identified species. Turner 

 (1886, p. 200) reported seeing several gray whales in Unimak 

 Pass in June 1878. 



Family BALAENOPTERIDAE 

 Balaenoptera physalus: Finback Whale 



Aleut: Chi kakh' lukh (Turner was uncertain about the application of this 



name.) 



The finback is still present in considerable numbers in the 

 Aleutians, though it is not as plentiful now as in the past. We 

 saw several and they were being taken in 1937 at the whaling 

 station on Akutan Island. At the latter place, we obtained data 

 on several fetuses that had been collected by S. Halvorsen, who 

 had been stationed there by the Coast Guard. This data follows : 



Finback fetus, female, collected June 9, 1937, latitude 53° 25', longitude 

 164° 39'. The fetus was 4 feet long; the mother was 67 feet long. 



Finback fetus, female, collected June 10, 1937, latitude 53° 22', longitude 

 166° 30'. The fetus was 3 feet 4 inches long; the mother was 60 feet long. 



Finback fetus, male, collected July 28, 1937, latitude 54° 06', longitude 

 166° 45'. This fetus was 16.7 inches long; the mother was 67 feet long. 



Balaenoptera borealis: Sei Whale 



The sei whale was observed at various times among the Aleutian 

 Islands; identification was made by Captain Sellevold. It was 

 recorded various times at Segula and Atka Islands and in Unimak 

 Pass, and at Atka Island a whale spent most of a day cruising 

 about in the harbor and often came near the ship. A few motion 

 pictures of it were obtained. 



On September 3, 1938, Scheffer recorded 2 sei whales near the 

 ship in Umnak Pass, and later in the day, he noted 3 more. 



In 1937, the United States Bureau of Fisheries reported the 



