ANATOMY OF MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. 



5 



5. PECTORAL FIN. The great length of the pectoral fin, or 

 paddle, is the most striking character of Megaptera among all 

 the whalebone whales. The following table shows the length 

 of the paddle in proportion to the length of the entire carcase 

 in those I have had the opportunity of measuring : 



These measurements are from the head of the humerus to 

 the tip of the paddle. That is little less than the measurement 

 along the inferior (radial) border when the fin is still attached 

 to the body. The measurement along the ulnar border is con- 

 Fin-Whale Fisheries, where large numbers of the various finners are killed. The 

 common statements in regard to the lengths attained among the other finners are 

 borne out, but not so in regard to Megaptera. Plenty of instances are mentioned 

 of the Blue Whale (B. Sibbaldii) reaching from 70 to 80 feet, or more, giving 

 averages of 75 and 79 English feet ; of the Razorback (B. musculus) from 60 to 

 70 feet, with averages of over 64 feet ; and of the Black Whale (Rudolphi's 

 rorqual, B. lorealis) from 40 to 45 feet, some nearly 50 feet. Of the Hump- 

 back (Megaptera longimana) the largest averages of length were Captain Horn's, 

 being, on a take of 6 males, 41 English feet (the longest 53 feet), and of 2 females, 

 46^ feet (the longest 48 feet). Mr Cocks remarks " The average for all the males 

 whose length is given above is under 35| English feet, while that of the females 

 is just over 40^ English feet. The number of Humpbacks taken that year (1886) 

 is given at 94 ; of the Blue Whale, 152 ; of the Razorback, 646; of Rudolphi's 

 rorqual, 62 ; total 954, by 39 whalers." Mr Cocks says of the fishery of 1885 

 "Captain Berg told me that he had this season captured the biggest Humpback 

 he had hitherto seen. It was a female, and measured 50 Norwegian feet (52 

 feet English) in a straight line (measured as Dr Guldberg had directed)." While 

 the state of some parts of the skeleton will sufficiently show that my Megaptera was 

 not full-grown, it would appear, from the lengths given by Mr Cocks, that a 

 40-feet male Megaptera is not so far from being adult as the nearly 60 feet 

 statement might have led us to infer. 



1 In this B. musculus the length of the paddle would have been a little more 

 but for a mal-development near the point. 



