THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 231 
“Tn colour, the whalebone on the outside was bl: ack, except along the front 12 
inches where it was partly white, mottled, but differing in this respect on the right 
and left sides. On the left jaw here, at 6 inches from the mesial line, 15 plates are 
quite white on their anterior [outer | half but black on the palatal half. Some near 
these, again, have the anterior edge black, and the rest of their surfaces white. 
Viewed from the palatal aspect, the whole matting of hairs was whitish. The 
words in my note- book are‘ white, dirty-white, or yellow. white.’ Now, in 1887, 
after 3 years’ exposure, though washed clean, that description could not apply. 
The colour of the hairy matting now is dirty- ‘brown mixed with brown-black. The 
hairs are fully 4 inches in length, some 6 inches. The hairs of the fringe are thick 
and stiff, like bristles, compared with those of my 50-feet-long B. musculus [= LB. 
physalus', but the much finer hairs of the matting on the palatal aspect do not differ 
in thickness in these two whales.” 
This description applies well to the Newfoundland Humpbacks which I ob- 
served in 1899. In No, 5, 2, the right whalebone was all grayish-black, except 
from the anterior end backward about one foot, where it was dull whitish. The 
bristles along the exterior were of the same grayish-black color, but their matted 
interior surface was lighter, with here and there a small area still much lighter. In 
No. 6, %, the most internal bristles were gray-brown, the next lot exteriorly, whitish, 
then a ell pink-gr: ay band, and finally the exterior ones part whitish and part eray. 
The general effect in looking into the mouth was that of dark gray for 4 inches 
next to the roof of the mouth, sueceeded by lighter color, A few anterior blades 
of whalebone were white externally. In both specimens the external edge of the 
blades was very rough, much more so than in Balenoptera physalus. 
Eschricht describes the whalebone of the Greenland Humpback as “ entirely 
(37, 147). 
In another place he remarks: “I have received more or less complete sets of whale- 
bone of many young and old Aeporkaks, part in brine, part dried. They were all 
dark colored, when dried almost black, when preserved moist in salt, the small internal 
plates (Nebenbarten) more or less gray in part, the bristles almost always brown. 
On each side are about 400 plates. 
2 feet” (37, 98). 
The size of the whalebone in different European and American specimens is 
shown in the following table: 
dark in color, when dry black-brown or black, the bristles brownish ” 
The length of the whalebone scarcely exceeds 
BALAZNOPTERA ACUTO-ROSTRATA LAC. EKUROPEAN AND AMERICAN, WHALEBONE, 
' : Length of Length of Length of Greatest 
ocality, Whale Longest Longest Bread Author, 
oe Whalebone. Bristles. : . 
in. in. in, 
Mewaaieiveres COplataClrsyrerete sessilis 40’ 0” 20 i F Struthers 
Norway....... Sie Dt EPR NCIIT ERE MUP acheter 24 + ae ng Guldberg 
Greenlandic we. eae Rent slate al aang eare 24+ Eschricht 
. . 4 | 
Dee River Bnolands.....0... «>. TO 2Ae ||| Moore 
» henge 3 4 
Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland... 2! 2” 21 Ree Winl 
y; | 
“ ee “ 45° ist 22 F. W 
a Nearly 2 feet long.” 
