130 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
more or less apart. The furrows on the mandible appear to remain always open, 
and the skin at their base is smooth and hard, while that of the breast furrows is 
soft and obliquely wrinkled. 
The ridges, as already remarked, anastomose irregularly and to a varying degree 
in different individuals. Many pairs coalesce near the posterior end, so that the 
total number of ridges here is much less than on the breast. 
The color of the ridges and that of the intervening furrows do not always 
agree. Where there is a solid area of dark gray on the ridges, the furrows are also 
dark. Where the dark color of the ridges breaks up into blotches, that of the 
furrows commonly remains uniformly dark for a considerable distance farther 
toward the median line of the belly. Finally, however, it also breaks up into 
blotches; and along the median line both furrows and ridges are pure white. Ina 
few cases there are moderate-sized areas of gray on the ridges where the furrows 
are entirely white, but this condition is of much less frequent occurrence than the 
opposite. 
AURICULAR ORIFICE. 
As is well known, the whales are without an external ear-conch. The external 
auricular orifice is in the form of a small oblong, or occasionally circular, opening, 
situated at a short distance behind the eye and nearly in the same horizontal plane. 
In the Newfoundland Finbacks the orifice is about 3 in. long and varies somewhat 
in position in different individuals, as will be evident from an inspection of the 
following table: 
BALZENOPTERA PHYSALUS (L.). NEWFOUNDLAND. 
antl : Distance from Center of Eye to 
No. | Sex. Total Length. Ganen one y 
e \- : : ae = i 
fier in 
II g 70 8 40 
3 ¢ | 63 7 36 
19 2 | 62 11 36 
20 g 62 8 | 36 
4 fe) 61 10 | 36.5 
B. 16 £ 60 11 36 
9 ) Sone 39 
8 2 57 6 4 
[2 rs) 54 6 35 
10 re) 53 9 30 
7 ? Bes i 32 
EYE. 
In the Newfoundland Finbacks there is always a ridge, bounded above and 
below by converging furrows, at the anterior commissure of the eyelids, and one or 
two short furrows both above and below the eye. (See pl. 9, fig. 5.) In No. 2, 
2, the orifice between the lids was 33 in. long, the long axis of the iris 2 in., the 
long axis of the pupil ¢ in., and the diameter of the eyeball 5 in. In No. 16 
