CETACEA. 
ll 
“of the Erebus and Terror) represent the three different kinds 
bs in the same position, and on the same scale, being one-fourteenth 
eo the natural length and breadth. The fibres on the edge in 
_ the Greenland and Margined Whales are very fine, flexible and 
ang forming only a thin series; im the South Sea they are 
rather coarser; but in the North-west Coast much thicker and 
coarser; quite bristly, and much more so towards the apex; 
and they are more erect and form a thicker series, approaching 
im that character to the baleen of the finners. 
The following are the measurements of the samples of the 
i erent kinds of ‘‘ Whale-fin”’ im the British Museum :— 
Greenland. North-western. Southern. 
in. lin. 
Length of blade, entire... 144 0 
Width at base ............ 
OE a 3 re 6’ 0 
ts Were lengthy ccs, |) aneune 
> of hair at end...... 10 O 
_ Thickness at base ......... 4 4 
om at middle ...... 4 4 
5  atSlength ... 0 22 
in. lin. 
112 O 
10 O 
4 0 
2 4 
Fh ae | 
4 5 
0 42 
0 3} 
in. lin. 
90 0 
9 0 
5 ee © 
ie ae 
/..0 
0 32 
0 22 
0 2 
The Greenland fin has the hair on its edge generally stripped 
_ off, and is clean and bright when it is brought to England; but 
this may be from the care the North Sea whalers take in col- 
~ lecting and cleaning it (as described by Scoresby. Arctic Re- 
gions, 1.418), and the blades are brought home in bundles about 
100-weight each. On the other hand, the North-west Coast 
“fin” and the South Sea “fin” have the hair left on the edges ; 
they are brought home in bulk, and are always covered with an 
ashy-white soft laminar coat, looking like the rotted external 
layers of the enamel. This coat has to be scraped off with large 
knives before it is used or prepared, and the surface after the 
scraping is not so polished and resplendent as that of the Green- 
land “ fins.” 
The whalebone is boiled for about twelve hours, to render it 
soft before it is divided into strips—it then divides very easily. 
The smaller pieces, when softened, are split by a small machine 
into very narrow strips like bristles, and used for bristles to make 
brooms, &e. &c. 
For every economical purpose, the Greenland “ fins” 
are pre- 
_ ferred, and last much longer, even when divided into the false 
bristles : ; and the Greenland fin will alone do for the finer work, 
such as the strips for plaiting for bonnets, or to make ladies’ 
: Bitinp-whips, or the covering of telescopes and other tubes; the 
lines on the enamel of the Greenland fins. 
white strips for these purposes being taken from pale longitudinal 
