162 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
conspicuous manner than in any other whale with which I am acquainted. 
The name ‘ Blue whale,’ bestowed on this species by Foyn, seems to me very suit- 
able, and I will therefore propose that it be adopted for the species as the 
Norwegian common name. ‘The pectoral fins externally are of the color of the 
body, but on the inner surface and the whole lower convex border, shining white, 
which color at a long distance contrasts sharply with the dark tints of the rest of 
the body. Quite constantly there occur also below the pectorals on the fluted sides 
of the breast a number of small milk-white spots, whose number and distribution 
vary considerably in different individuals. In addition, I have found in all indi- 
viduals, more or less strongly marked, a lighter mottling above the roots of the 
pectorals and between them and the region of the eye. The flukes, as well above 
as below, are of the color of the body, but on the lower surface a little lighter than 
on the upper.” 
The color of the 25 or 80 Newfoundland specimens which I observed agreed 
well with this description, though I found, as in the case of the Common Finback, 
that there was a large individual variation, no two specimens being precisely alike. 
Neither Sars’s figure nor his description gives an adequate idea of the compli- 
cated coloration of the species. It would be futile to attempt a detailed description 
of the markings, but some idea may be given of the general disposition of the lighter 
and darker tints. In the Sulphurbottoms of Newfoundland the head, chin, throat, 
and lips are dark bluish-gray, darker than the rest of the body and uniform. All 
the remainder of the body is variously spotted, mottled, and lined with light gray, 
dark gray, and white. The shoulders, back, and sides are mottled with large irregu- 
larly elliptical marks of dark gray and light gray, the latter generally predominating, 
and sometimes almost excluding the dark color, so that the whole animal behind 
the eyes appears light gray. Even in these cases, however, there are areas of more 
or less dark color above the pectoral fins (when laid back) and the anus, and 
between the latter and the flukes. 
The long axes of the elliptical light-gray markings take different directions. 
They sweep up around the base of the pectoral fin and are then directed obliquely 
downward and backward above the posterior ends of the furrows. They then 
point directly backward, or those of the upper rows upward and backward toward 
the top of the caudal peduncle. 
The belly is invariably marked with distinct white spots, which, however, vary 
greatly in number. In some cases they are so numerous under the root of the 
pectoral fin as to produce a large white area, extending as a band backward toward 
the navel, and some spots are to be found down to the median line and scattered 
forward considerably in front of the pectoral fin, a few even invading the lips. In 
other cases the white spots run off the pectoral flutings posteriorly on to the flanks, 
between the navel and the anus. In other cases again, there are no white spots 
anterior to the base of the pectoral fin, and they only extend down to the median 
line at the posterior end of the pectoral flutings and there stop. 
The under surface of the flukes near the root, from the anterior margin back- 
ward, is finely marked with alternating light and dark gray lines running antero- 
posteriorly, but finally curving inward toward the median line. 
