APPENDIX 



DIMENSIONS AND GROWTH OF THE KIDNEY OF 

 BLUE AND FIN WHALES 



DIMENSIONS OF THE WHOLE EXTRACTED ORGAN 



Adult whales 



Measurements of three dimensions of the adult kidney were taken on the flensing 

 platform. Only the left kidney could be measured, since the right was never accessible 

 during the dismemberment of the carcass. When the body and viscera were being 

 stripped away from the vertebral column it was found possible to detach the left kidney 

 by cutting through its serous mesentery and to measure it as it lay on the platform. 

 The measurements taken were : 



The length between the two tips (anterior to posterior). 



The greatest breadth: at about the mid-point along the length. 



The greatest depth : at about the same point as the breadth. 



The adult kidney exhibited considerable variations in shape, sometimes because it was 

 in a more or less advanced state of decomposition, and frequently because of the thick 

 accumulations of fat in the fibrous investments. Its usual shape, however, was similar 

 to that of the foetus: namely, very roughly semicircular in outline with its greatest 

 breadth at about half its length, and triangular in cross-section. There was a long latero- 

 ventral and latero-dorsal side and a narrower mesal side. The measurements were not 

 taken on decomposed kidneys. 



The numbers of kidneys measured in this manner were as follows : 

 Fin whales Males: 193. Females: 159. 

 Blue whales Males: 15. Females: 26. 



In Tables I and II are shown the measurements of whales of length differences of 

 1 -o m. The number of measurements of which each figure is an average is also shown in 

 the Table. 



The length of the left kidney of Fin whales is about i-o m. when the body length is 

 about 14-0 m. — that is soon after weaning. In the largest Fin whales examined (24-0 m.) 

 the length of the left kidney was about 2-0 m. There is no marked difference between the 

 average lengths of the kidneys of Blue and Fin whales of the same body length. The 

 width and depth of the organ, however, are considerably greater in Blue than in Fin 

 whales of the same length — a difference which is especially marked in the female sex. 

 The numbers of Blue whales of any length, however, were too small to permit a more 

 definite statement than this to be made. 



The measurements seem to show that while the length of the kidney is related directly 

 to the length of the body, the width and depth of the organ are related to the girth of the 



