HUMPBACK WHALE ; CALIFORNIAN GREY WHALE 243 



and protuberances on the head and nippers. The common 

 name of Humpback has been explained by some as applying 

 to the small fin situated on the back towards the tail, and by 

 others to the rounded appearance of the animal when it dives. 

 The Norwegian " Knolhval ", the French " Baleine a bosse " 

 and the Danish " Stubhval " are all names which draw 

 attention to the tubercles on head and flippers. 



The body form is relatively shorter and stouter than that 

 of the Firmer Whale. " Its shape ", says Scammon, " compared 

 with the symmetrical form of the Finback, California Grey and 

 Sulphur-bottom is decidedly ugly," and there is no doubt 

 that the Humpback's thickset build coupled with its excessively 

 long flippers contrast rather unfavourably with the lines of the 

 more finely proportioned Rorquals. 



The beak is short and broad, and the region between the 

 dorsal fin and tail — the " small " of the old American whalers 

 — is greatly reduced in size The dorsal fin is not unlike that 

 of the Common Rorqual, although usually without the very 

 pronounced concave posterior margin. The tubercles, already 

 referred to, on the surface of the head and jaws vary greatly 

 in number but are arranged in weh-defined areas. Thus, there 

 is usually a series extending forwards from the front ends of 

 the blowhole slits to the tip of the snout, and two more, one on 

 either side of the middle set, on the margins of the upper jaws. 

 A cluster of them is found on the chin, and they also extend 

 along the outer surface of the lower jaws. Their distribution 

 corresponds to that of the hair in the Rorquals, and in the 

 present species 1 or 2 short bristles are usually associated with 

 each tubercle. 



The pleating on the throat, extending from below the chin 

 to the navel, is much coarser than that of the Rorquals. The 

 width between grooves is from 5 to 8 inches, whereas in the 

 Blue and Finner Whales it is only 2 or 3 inches. As in these 

 species, nevertheless, individual grooves may split up into 

 two or fuse with others, the total number being from 14 to 

 upwards of 20, far fewer than are ever encountered in the 

 Rorquals. 



The great length of the thin narrow flipper has already been 

 mentioned as the outstanding characteristic, of this species. 

 A cast of one 14 feet long from a Humpback measuring 49 feet 



