NO. 1163. NOMENCLATURE OF THE WHALEBONE WHA LES—TIi UE. 631 



The eye. ill this Least \yas located not far from the place where the opening of tha» 

 month began; from this (the eye) to the end of the beak the distance was 13 feet 

 2 inches. Freed from the cartilagiuons substance with which it was covered as 

 with an involucre, and from the musck-s surrounding the same, the diameter was 5 

 inches; but the jiupil of the eye was 11 inches in diameter, and iu size and color the 

 inside was like the eye of an ox. 



No blowhole was present in this beast^ but toward the forehead were to be seen 

 two large apertures approaching a i>yramid iu shape. Their base was toward the 

 forehead, and toward the narrow part of the beak they were gradually contracted 

 very closely. They were divided by a septum, but the turmoil [of the water] which 

 prevailed did not permit of anything further being noted. 



The lateral lin was 10 feet long, 2k feet broad where widest, and was narrowed 

 up toward the extremity, being there but 3 inches broad. From this (the fin) to the 

 opening of the mouth the distance was 6 feet .5 inches. 



Besides the two lateral fius there was a third and smaller liu on the back, about 3 

 feet long Jiud 2 feet high. From the lower part of this fin, that part of the tail where 

 the bifurcation begins, the length was 12 feet 10 inches. * * ■ 



From the lower jaw to the navel the belly was full of folds or ridges, w'hich were 

 2 inches broad, and the elevated part and excavated part of these were of e(pial 

 measure. 



The penis, which hung from the body not far from the navel, was 5 feet long, 

 where thicker it was 4 feet in girth, and it gradually diminished to a very narrow 

 extremity. It was placed in an o'lliqne position. 



At 5 feet below the penis, opposite the dorsal fin, was placed the anus, distant 

 about 12 feet from the bifurcated tail; the margin was 1 foot long. The tail, from 

 that part in Avhich it was divided into two flukes to the upper extremity, was 10 

 feet long; the distance between the two extremities of this (the flukes) was 18^ feet. 



The blubber on the side was as much as 4^ inches thick, and in the head and in 

 the neck where it was thickest did not exceed 1 foot. The skin was one-half inch 

 tliick. The belly was whitish in color. 



From this descriptiou we extract the following measurements of 

 Sibbald's wliale: 



Feet. Indies. 



Total length 78 



Length of lower jaw 13 2^ 



From the eye to the end of the beak 13 2 



Length of pectoral fin 10 



Greatest breadth of pectoral fin 2 6 



From pectoral fin to angle of mouth fi o 



Height of dorsal fin 2 



Length of dorsal fin (about) 3 



From posterior insertion of dorsal fin to bifurcation of flukes 12 10 



Breadth of flukes from tip to tip 18 



Length of longest whalebone 3 



Breadth of longest whalebone 1 



We learn from the description and nieasniemeiits that Sibbald had 

 before him a finback whale 78 feet long, with the dorsal fin very far 

 back, the pectoral fin about one-seventh the total length, the whalebone 

 having a maximum length of 3(5 inches, and both the plates themselves 

 and the bristles black. 



This combination of characters belongs to the blue whale {Bakvnop- 

 tera sibhalMi Gray), the largest of the known European finback whales. 

 The black whalebone with its black bristles is especially characteristic. 



