120 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC, 
fifteen minutes this again becomes conspicuously darker than the surrounding parts 
which are still protected by the superficial layer, as may be seen in a striking 
manner by peeling off an additional piece of the upper layer, or removing a part of 
the second layer so as to expose the third. 
This deepening of the color goes on gradually in B. physalus, and other gray 
species, until the whole of the pigmented areas are black, and the rejected fragments 
of blubber from the dorsal region with the skin attached, which are found around 
a whaling station, are always of this color. 
It is obvious that any specimen of BL. physalus which has been stranded and 
has lain in the sun for several days before coming to the attention of a naturalist 
will be described by him as black above. Specimens which have floated dead on 
the waves, with the back down, for some days, but are observed as soon as brought 
to land, are more likely to have retained a semblance of their natural color. Such 
a specimen was described in his usual accurate manner by Sars in 1866 (77, 15-16, 
sep.). With due allowance for the deepening of the tints, this is one of the best 
descriptions of the coloration of European B. physalus. ‘The following isa transla- 
tion from the Norwegian original : 
“The color above in the median line is dark slate, or almost black, but passes on 
the sides of the body into a very light Isabelline gray, which orades: almost imper- 
ceptibly into the white of the belly. On the back part of the “body (tail) the dark 
color reaches so deep down on the sides that there remains in the middle (below) 
a very small white stripe. Directly under the dorsal fin this stripe is smaller and 
is limited here on both sides by a small, pointed, dark projection, which reaches 
forward to the anus, where it almost touches the corresponding one of the other 
side. The white color occupies the whole ventral surface on the most anterior 
part of the body, and stretches up to the pectorals, back of whose root, however, 
the dark color of the back sends down a small oval prolongation. Between the 
root of the pectoral and the corner of the mouth on each side a whitish (not pure 
white) mark shows itself, which sends out a number of small stripes, of which the 
most conspicuous are one passing forward in the direction of the eye, and another 
backward in the direction of the dorsal fin. 
“The pectorals are white on the inner surface, but with the tip and along the 
upper border somewhat dark streaked; on the outer surface they are dark, but 
here also the white color is seen along the lower border, forming here a small pure 
white border, which widens out forwards [proximally] not so very insignificantly, 
until it is suddenly interrupted by a dark tongue-shaped mark passing over the root 
of the pectoral. The dorsal fin retains the dark color of the back throughout. The 
flukes are rather dark color on the upper surface, but on the under surface white, 
surrounded along the edges by a narrow dark border. Of the pectoral furrows, 
the upper are blue-black within, but the lower, pale flesh-color. The above- 
described coloration is entirely alike on both sides of the body. 
“The most anterior part of the head, or the facial part, however, is very notice- 
ably unequally colored on the two sides. On the left side, the upper jaw, as well 
as the whole of the upper part of the lower jaw, is dark, but on the right side, not 
alone the under jaw but the most anterior part of the upper jaw along the border 
is pure white; but at the root of the lower jaw is an indistinctly defined grayish 
shade. The dissimilarity in color reaches also to the whalebone. On the left side 
