NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT ^YHALE. 125 



the distal end of the femur is a ligamentous rod, which probably represents the tibia. In the 

 Greenland Whale or Bowhead this tibia is slightly bony. 



Sir William Turner (1913) has very recently described for the first time an os penis, hitherto 

 unknown among baleen whales. In an adult specimen it was 12.75 inches long, and some- 

 wliat cylindrical. 



Appearance and Actions. 



It has not been my good fortune to observe this species in life. Collett (1909) and others 

 agree that "it is fond of lying quietly on the surface of the water" and at such times it is not 

 unlikely that it sleeps. I have elsewhere mentioned (p. 146) an adventure with such a sleeping 

 whale in Cape Cod Bay which ended disastrously to one of the Mayflower's crew in 1620. 

 When at the surface it swims slowly, with its blowholes above water. "As a rule," says Collett, 

 "it blows five or six times in succession, and then remains under water for from ten to twenty 

 minutes," going down with a nearly perpendicular dive, in which the flukes come quite up 

 out of the water. Millais (1906) says on the authority of a whaleman, that it blows from ten 

 to twelve times, and is then gone for ten minutes. It will sometimes rise partly from the water, 

 but apparently has not been seen to leap clear. When rising to the surface to blow, the head 

 comes much farther out than in the Balaenopterae, and as it swims in calm water, the top of the 

 head and the back are visible, but owing to the arching of the head, there is a depression at 

 the neck, so that water appears between these two portions, whereas in the Balaenopterae 

 the convexity of head and back are practically continuous (Buchet, 1895). The absence of 

 a dorsal fin and the appearance of the flukes in diving are further field marks. When not 

 alarmed its rate of speed is said to be about four miles an hour, a leisurely pace. 



Spout. 



The spout of tliis species is said to be about fifteen feet high, and to form a comparatively 

 thicker colunm than tliat of the Common Finback. In nearer view it is seen "to be distinctly 

 formed of two jets falling to different sides " (Collett, 1909, p. 96). The blowholes are situ- 

 ated rather fartjier apart and are more divergent than in the Rorquals so that the double source 

 of the spout is moi-e apparent. Buchet (1895) who seems to have had some first-hand knowl- 

 edge of this species in the Iceland seas, says that the spout is thin and difficult to detect. 



Schools. 



Right Whales do not travel in large schools. Usually not more than two or three are 

 found together, and these appear to be often a pair, or a pair with a calf. Where food is abun- 

 dant, a considerable number may gather; and though sometimes spoken of as schools, such 

 gatherings must be incidental rather than the result of purposeful association. In the 



