THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 145 
The agreement of the various measurements is, on the whole, a close one, and 
where discrepancies appear there is no evidence of a constant difference between 
European and American specimens. Dwight’s specimen from Gloucester, Mass., 
according to his measurements, has a smaller scapula than any other specimen, 
while the type of SB. tectirostris has a longer radius. The same differences do not 
obtain in the other two American specimens. They may be individual or due to a 
difference in the manner of taking the measurements. In the case of Dwight’s 
Gloucester (Mass.) specimen, the short radius indicated by the measurements is not 
found in figure 12, plate 6, of his article. 
Much more significant than these differences is the agreement between Dwight’s 
specimen and that from Nairn, Scotland, measured by Prof. Struthers (88, 830), 
The proportions of the vertebrze are practically identical ; the difference in the size 
of the scapula, as already stated, is not confirmed by the other American specimens, 
SUMMARY. 
The consideration of the various external and osteological characters of Ba- 
lenoptera physalus and of American specimens resembling that species has now 
been completed as far as circumstances will permit. While numerous discrep- 
ancies have been detected in individual cases, the evidence as a whole points 
unmistakably, in my opinion, to the conclusion that the same species occurs on 
both sides of the Atlantic, and I believe that with further investigation and fuller 
data the discrepancies which have been pointed out will be found to rest on 
individual or sex variation, or lack of conformity in measurements. 
One point, however, appears to me to be worthy of special attention: The 
maximum and average total length of both sexes is less for Newfoundland speci- 
mens than for those taken at the Norwegian whaling stations in Finmark, or 
captured or stranded on other parts of the European coasts. 
It is somewhat difficult to determine the importance and real meaning of this 
apparent difference in size. Three alternatives suggest themselves. It may be 
(1) a real difference ; or (2) it may be due to an exaggeration of the measure- 
ments by the Norwegian whalers; or (8) it may arise from the fact that the 
Norwegian and Newfoundland whales belong to the same herds, and that the 
largest individuals have been killed. As to the second alternative, it has to be 
said that while the measurement may be exaggerated there is no evidence that 
such is the case. The third point is of more importance. The Norwegian meas- 
urements quoted from Cocks were for whales captured off Finmark between 
1885 and 1886, a decade before the Newfoundland fishery began, There was 
ample time for the largest individuals to be killed off. But it is necessary to 
prove that the herds of the eastern and western Atlantic mingle together. The 
present evidence of such a commingling cannot be considered conclusive. Hence, 
the difference in size between the Norwegian and American individuals still has 
validity. It cannot by itself, however, be considered as proof of specific distinctness, 
as it is quite allowable to suppose that there may be separate herds belonging 
