294 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
It will be seen that there is a very close agreement between the principal 
measurements of the Newfoundland and European specimens, and especially be- 
tween the former and the Tay River (Scotland) specimen. The only departure of 
importance is in the breadth of the flukes, which are made to appear wider-spread 
in the Newfoundland specimens. In the case of No. 6 the flukes were cut off before 
the whale was brought to shore, and I had to rely on measurements not my own. 
It is quite likely that they were taken in some other manner than direct from tip 
to tip. In the case of No. 5, one of the flukes only was in position when the whale 
was drawn up on the slip. The measurement given is, therefore, really an estimate. 
The same lack of conformity will be found in the case of Balenoptera physalus, and 
for the same reason. 
It is to be regretted that fuller measurements of European specimens are not 
obtainable, but as the species appears to strand but rarely on that side of the Atlantic, 
few observations have been recorded. 
ABDOMINAL RIDGES AND FURROWS. 
The system of abdominal ridges and furrows is simple in the posterior part, 
but complicated at the anterior end, and better understood from illustrations than 
from descriptions (see plates 87-39). The description of the Tay River (Scotland) 
whale given by Struthers, and the description and figure of the Finmark whale 
given by Sars agree with the Newfoundland specimens. In the former the ridges 
were 44 or 5 in. wide; in the three Newfoundland specimens the widest were 8, 5, 
and 6 inches respectively. In Hallas’s Iceland Humpback (60, 172) the ridges were 
2-91 in. (Danish) in breadth, which, if correct, is a notable difference. The ridges 
are not exactly symmetrical on the two sides of the body and the different ridges 
anastomose at different points. The ridges and furrows farthest from the median 
line run forward to the inferior margin of the mandible, but the median two or 
three pairs curve inward at the anterior end and unite considerably farther back, 
forming a sort of median ridge, which Struthers likens to a “second chin.” (See 
pl. 89, fig. 1.) This disposition of the ridges, and the other characteristics mentioned 
above, were found in the Tay whale. In the Newfoundland specimens many of 
the furrows were divided longitudinally by a narrow, central supplementary ridge, 
triangular in section. Other furrows contained similar short ridges arranged 
diagonally. As already stated, the majority of the furrows terminate anteriorly 
below the margin of the mandible, but those most distant from the median line 
extend on to the proximal end of the smooth surface of the mandible itself. 
In the three Newfoundland specimens there were 14, 20, and 22 ridges, respect- 
ively, on the breast between the pectoral fins. In the Tay River whale the number 
of ridges, according to Struthers, was about 24. Sars states that the number in the 
Finmark whale was between 20 and 30. Rawitz’s largest specimen (14.25 m.) had 
92 furrows, while the smallest (10.5 m.) had 36 furrows. He does not state at what 
point or how the count was made. 
Besides the furrows, properly so called, the Newfoundland specimens displayed 
