248 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
The first point that arrests one’s attention in comparing these measurements is 
that the distance from the tip of the snout to the eye in the San Sebastian (Spain) 
whale is very short. This has been insisted on in all the accounts of this whale 
and appears in Monedero’s drawing, copied by Fischer (44, 18, fig. 1), Van Beneden 
and Gervais, and others. The appearance of the head in the figure is so peculiar 
as to lead one to think this young specimen was either abnormal, or that the draw- 
ing was inaccurate. Nothing is to be seen of this peculiarity in Guldberg’s photo- 
graphic figures of older individuals. The Ré Island (France), Egg Harbor (New 
Jersey), and Cape Lookout (North Carolina) specimens show a reasonable agree- 
ment as regards this measurement. 
In the length and breadth of the pectoral limb the European and American 
specimens show a very close agreement, amounting to identity of proportions. 
In the measurement of the flukes, on the contrary, the European specimens 
neither agree with each other nor with the American specimens, nor do the lat- 
ter agree among themselves. In all species of whales the expansion of the flukes 
appears subject to a considerable amount of individual variation, but this would 
not account for the marked discrepancies observable in the foregoing table. As 
regards the Taranto (Italy) whale, it would appear that the measurement of the 
flukes from tip to tip is incorrect, because while this is much below that of most of 
the other specimens, the measurement of the length of one of the lobes of the 
flukes is only a trifle less than that of the American specimen having the widest 
spread flukes; in other words, the length of one lobe of the flukes is recorded as 
two thirds the distance from tip to tip, which is highly improbable. 
The measurement for the Charleston (South Carolina) whale is still smaller, 
27.3% of the total length, while the Ege Harbor, (New Jersey) whale has the 
maximum proportion of 35.4% There appears to be no way in which to reconcile 
these differences. 
The length of the whalebone in the European and American specimens differs 
considerably. In the Taranto whale it was but 6.6% of the total length of the 
whale, and in Guldberg’s Iceland specimen of 1889, 7.1%. In the Charleston 
whale, which was 3 feet shorter than the last mentioned, the whalebone was 10.3 %. 
The various absolute measurements are as follows: 
BALAINA GLACIALIS BONNATERRE, EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN. WHALEBONE, 
Locality. Sex. Length of Length of 
Whale. Whalebone. 
ft ain. ft: int 
Charleston) South) Carolinaesneer ieee eee 3} 40 4 4) 2 
CapelCodmMassmey-rrascieseemnerr ner itioletenetarer= $ ZL ERS Go) 
IBiofey Ielendovorm INO ORM? aeadenacaccoaagcgq S008 & 48 oO 5 
Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 1874............. 6 Ing ate) i @ 
- anne &:\c\s reaaieey cute biso-ols oc CRM EReee rte g 46 oo est. 6 4 
WMamramtos Witalliyacyvsievss-tetstopsurettere mat amce eee s Creve orieye 2g RO. 2 78 
Reelan dh !ivss Aba seis s Doct eee eee eat orsaie she g 43 3B ey 
(Guldberg’s longest Iceland whalebone).......... RS Mil) narcotagat 6 53 
(Berg’s longest Iceland whalebone).............. oo ©|| ‘oadaacdda ih oc! 
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