THE WHALEKONE WHALES OF THE WESTKHN NOR'l'll ATLANTIC. 215 



"It appeal's at all events that in the European seas this animal attains this 

 size but rarely, and if we see in the museums of Paris and Stockliolm bones of extra- 

 ordinary dimensions, we ought to believe that the sailors who liave collected these 

 pieces have chosen the bones which wei-e the most remarkable on account of their 

 size." 



The 88-foot Humpback of 1665 must have been considered as pi'esenting very 

 e.xtiaordiuaiy proportions, first, because measurements were made of the flippei-s, 

 flukes, and whalebone, which was unusual at that time, and second, because the 

 other " old female " is recoixled as having a length of only 60 feet. 



The Greenland Humpback, called Kefporhak by the natives, was stated by 

 Holboll to "reach a length of about 60 feet." (57, 196.)' This does not indicate 

 a size much, if any, beyond that of the largest Norwegian specimens. 



A mucli more satisfactory idea of the real size of these whales will be obtained 

 by ascertaining the average size of adults. Unfortunately, this cannot be done by 

 averaging the total length of skeletons in which the condition of the bones indicates 

 full maturity, for very few such skeletons are known. The most that can be done 

 will be to obtain an average of the length of specimens of females obsei'ved to con- 

 tain foetuses and hence at least sexually mature. No doubt the length may increase 

 somewhat after sexual maturity is attained, but we shall have at least a convenient, 

 and really significant mininuim, and will be enabled to throw out specimens which 

 are in eveiy sense immature. 



As already noted on p. 212, two females containing foetuses captured at the 

 Snook's Aim Station, Newfoundland, in 1899, were respectively 46 ft. 6 in. and 

 45 ft. 5 in. long. The average of these two is 45 ft. Hi in. 



x\mong the Fiiimark specimens recorded by Cocks is one female (with foitus) of 

 45 feet, English, a length nearly equal to that of the Snook's Arm specimens. Cocks 

 records three other females of greater length, and therefore entitled to be considered 

 mature. The average length of the four specimens is 48 ft., a considerable in- 

 crease over the average for the two Snook's Arm specimens, but still more neai-ly 

 comparable with it than with the extraordinary dimensions already considered. 



A female with young stranded between Fa and Karm Ids., Stavanger Amt, 

 Norway, in 1846, and believed by Eschricht to have been a Humpback, measured 

 45 feet, Norwegian, or 46 ft. 4 in., English, a very close approximation to the 

 Snook's Arm females. 



The Finmark specimen described by Sars in 1881, wliich was a mature female 

 (SO, 8), was 14.2 m., or 46 ft. 7 in. (English), long in a straight line from tip of 

 lower jaw to notch of flukes. The figure, measured along the curve of the back 

 from the tip of the ufper jaw to the notch, gives a length of 46 ft. 1 in., English. 

 This is also very close to the larger of the Newfoundland specimens. 



These and other data are brought together for comparison in the following 

 table : 



' Van Beneden interprets this statement incorrectly as follows : " Holboll va jusqu'a 6o pieds." 

 (7, III.) The original is " Der Keporkak erreicht eine Grosse von gegen 60'." 



