V. Description of the Whale {Balmnoj^tera musculus Auct.) in the possession 

 OF the Society : with remarks on the classification of Fin Whales. By Thomas 

 D WIGHT, Jr., M.D. 



Read May 17, 1871. 



xVs a minute description of the skeleton of the most common sj^ecies of Fin Whale may 

 at first sight appear superfluous, it is desirable to state at once the purpose of this 

 paper. 



The classification of the Finners is in the greatest confusion, which is increased by the 

 tendency of many zoologists to form new genera and species, ignoring the fact that the 

 number of well described specimens is not sufficient to warrant much generalization. 

 The task undertaken is to add one to the list of thoroughly described skeletons, and to 

 endeavor to show that the range of purely individual variations is greater than is gener- 

 ally admitted. 



The whale was a female, 48 feet long. The skeleton, just short of 45 feet (the curve 

 being represented and the intervertebral cartilages suppressed), is now hanging in the 

 large hall of the Society's Museum. Having no account which I know to be authentic of 

 the capture of the animal, I copy a part of the commonly accepted one, from the Boston 

 Daily Advertiser of Monday, October 17, 1870. 



"A whale about sixty feet long was captured off Gloucester, on Saturday;, and was 

 towed up to this city yesterday, where it can be seen at Litchfield's wharf. We under- 

 stand that the whale was first seen floating on the surface of the water by some fishermen, 

 who supposed that it was dead. They went to it and succeeded in fastening a hawser to 

 its jaws, when it began to ' come to ' and soon gave unmistakable signs of life, thrashing 

 round so that the boats were upset and the hawser parted. They, however, continued their 

 attacks upon him, and after the third attempt they succeeded in putting a period to his 

 existence, and a tow line round his jaw, which held As far as had been ascer- 

 tained, he had received no injuries before being seen by the fishermen, and it is supposed 

 that its torpid condition was owing to sickness." 



It was exhibited, according to this announcement, for about ten days, when the proprie- 

 tor, Mr. H. T. Litchfield, having removed the blubber, presented the carcase to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. The flukes of the tail were cut off shortly after the capture, 

 and the whalebone fell a sacrifice to the popular enthusiasm. While the whale was on 

 exhibition and its destination still in doubt, Mr. J. A. Allen, of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, examined it and took many very accurate measurements. Mr. J. H. Blake, 

 of the same institution, made the drawings which appear in plate vii, and woodcuts 1 and 2. 

 All these were very handsomely given me by Mr. Allen, when the whale came into the 

 possession of this Society. The carcase, by this time exceedingly offensive, was towed to 

 an island in the harbor and dissected under the superintendence of Professor Hyatt, Mr. 

 Sanborn and myself. As I was unable to be absent for a long time from the city, hj far 



