THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORUIT ATLANTIC. 215 
“Tt appears at all events that in the European seas this animal attains this 
size but rarely, and if we see in the museums of Paris and Stockholm bones of extra- 
ordinary dimensions, we ought to believe that the sailors who have collected these 
pieces have chosen the bones which were the most remar kable on account of their 
size.’ 
The 88-foot Humpback of 1665 must have been considered as presenting very 
extraordinary proportions, first, because measurements were made of the flippers, 
flukes, and whalebone, which was unusual at that time, and second, because the 
other “old female” is recorded as having a length of only 60 feet. 
The Greenland Humpback, called Av’eporkak by the natives, was stated by 
Holbéll to “reach a length of about 60 feet.” (37, 196.)! This does not indicate 
a size much, if any, beyond that of the largest Norwegian specimens. 
A much more satisfactory idea of the real size of these whales will be obtained 
by ascertaining the average size of adults. Unfortunately, this cannot be done by 
averaging the total length of skeletons in which the condition of the bones indicates 
full maturity, for very few such skeletons are known. The most that can be done 
will be to obtain an average of the length of specimens of females observed to con- 
tain foetuses and hence at least sexually mature. No doubt the length may increase 
somewhat after sexual maturity is attained, but we shall have at least a convenient, 
and really significant minimum, and will be enabled to throw out specimens which 
are in every sense immature. 
As already noted on p. 212, two females containing feetuses captured at the 
Snook’s Arm Station, Newfoundland, in 1899, were respectively 46 ft. 6 in. and 
45 ft. 5 in. long.» The average of these two is 45 ft. 114 in. 
Among the Finmark specimens recorded by Cocks is one female (with fcetus) of 
45 feet, English, a length nearly equal to that of the Snook’s Arm specimens. Cocks 
records three other females of greater length, and therefore entitled to be considered 
mature. The average length of the four specimens is 48 ft., a considerable in- 
crease over the average for the two Snook’s Arm specimens, but still more nearly 
comparable with it than with the extraordinary dimensions already considered. 
A female with young stranded between Fa and Karm Ids., Stavanger Amt, 
Norway, in 1846, and believed by Eschricht to have been a Humpback, measured 
45 feet, Norwegian, or 46 ft. 4 in., English, a very close approximation to the 
Snook’s Arm females. 
The Finmark specimen described by Sars in 1881, which was a mature female 
(80, 8), was 14.2 m., or 46 ft. 7 in. (English), long in a straight line from tip of 
lower jaw to notch of flukes. The figure, measured along the curve of the back 
from the tip of the wpper jaw to the notch, gives a length of 46 ft. 1 in., English. 
This is also very close to the larger of the Newfoundland specimens. 
These and other data are brought together for comparison in the following 
table: 
Van Beneden interprets this statement incorrectly as follows : “ Holbdll va jusqu’a 60 pieds.” 
(7, 111.) The original is “ Der Keforkak erreicht eine Grosse von gegen 60',” 
