CHAPTER II. 
THE FINBACK WHALE. 
Bal2enoptera velifera, Cope. (Plate ii, fig. 2.) 
Another species of the whale tribe is known as the Finback, or Finner, whose 
geographical distribution is as extended as that of the Sulphurbottom, and which 
ranks next to it in point of swiftness. 
One picked up by Captain Poole, of the bark Sarah Warren, of San Francisco, 
affords us the following memoranda: Length, sixty-five feet; thickness of blubber, 
seven to nine inches; yield of oil, seventy -five barrels; color of blubber, a clear 
white. Top of head quite as flat and straight as that of the Humpback. Baleen, 
the longest, two feet four inches ; greatest width, thirteen inches ; its color, a light 
lead, streaked with black, and its surface presents a ridgy appearance crosswise ; 
length of fringe to bone, two to four inches, and in size this may be compared to 
a cambric needle. 
A Balcenoptera, which came on shore near the outer heads of the Golden Gate, 
gave us the opportunity of obtaining the following rough measurements : 
Ft. 111. 
Length CO 00 
From nib - end to pectorals 15 00 
From nib - end to corner of mouth 12 00 
From nib -end to eye 12 06 
From notch of caudal fin to genital slit 21 00 
From notch of caudal fin to vent 19 06 
Expansion of caudal fin 14. 00 
Its side fins and flukes are in like proportion to the body as in the California 
Gray. Its throat and breast are marked with deep creases, or folds, similar to the 
Humpback. Color of back and sides, black or blackish -brown (in some individ- 
uals a curved band of lighter shade marks its upper sides, between the spiracles 
and pectorals) ; belly, a milky white. Its back fin is placed nearer to the caudal 
than the hump on the Humpback, and in shape approaches to a right-angled 
[S4) 
