1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 341 



Measurements. Of type: Total length, 27 feet; greatest depth, 5 feet 4 

 Inches; length of pectorals, 4 feet; breadth of tail flukes, 2 feet 1 inch. 



Distribution. Scammon says that in the course of 12 years' obser- 

 vations, during which time he had traced these whales from the coast 

 of Mexico to Bering Sea, they had generally been considered by the 

 whalers as young of one of the finback or one of the larger whales, 

 but finding the type, an evidently adult breeding female, convinced 

 him of the distinctness of the species. 



General habits. In habits they are said to be like the finbacks, 

 swift and active, frequently seen gamboling about vessels under way, 

 or darting underneath from one side to the other, usually solitary, or 

 rarely, in pairs. They wander along the whole continental coast of 

 the North Pacific occasionally visiting the large estuaries about the 

 shores. They often shoot along the shallow borders of the bays, in 

 search of the myriads of small fry on which they mainly sustain 

 themselves. They cannot be considered as objects of pursuit by 

 whaling vessels but are occasionally taken by the natives at Cape 

 Flattery. The yield of oil from the type specimen was estimated to 

 be about 300 gallons. 



SIBBALDUS MUSCULUS (LINNAEUS) 

 BLUE WHALE; SULPHUR-BOTTOM WHALE 



Siltbaldins sulfureus Cope, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc., p. 20, 1869. Type from 

 northwest coast (Pacific Sulphur-bottom Whale of Grinnell in Distributional 

 List of Mammals of California, p. 374, 1913). 



[Balaena] musculus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, v. 1, p. 76, 1758. 



Type locality. Firth of Forth, Scotland. 



General characters. Largest of the known whales, reaching slightly more 

 than 100 feet in length and estimated as weighing as much as 147 tons, the 

 largest mammal ever known on our earth. Head flat above (pi. 48, (7) ; body 

 relatively more slender than in the California gray whale with smaller dorsal 

 fin and small pectorals ; eyes close to corner and below level of mouth ; throat 

 and belly thickly ridged longitudinally with narrow folds ; baleen in two heavy 

 series, broad at base but not long, usually black. Upper parts bluish black, 

 gray, or mouse brown, or in some cases light brown or whitish; lower parts 

 yellowish or sulphur color, or speckled with white. 



Measurements. One large individual taken by Captain Roys: Total length, 

 95 feet ; length of jawbone, 21 feet ; longest baleen, 4 feet. Yield of baleen, 800 

 pounds ; yield of oil, 110 barrels. Weight of whole animal estimated at 147 tons. 

 (There are reports of 100 and 105 feet In length.) 



Distribution and abwidance. The sulphur-bottom whales are 

 found in the Atlantic as well as in the Pacific but whether identically 

 of the same species is not positively known. In the Pacific they are 

 widely distributed and apparently occur at all seasons off the coast 

 of California and northward ; but according to Allen (1916, p. %%5) 

 seem to avoid the tropical seas. 



General habits. Less common than the finbacks and usually soli- 

 tary or in pairs; swift and powerful swimmers and rarely captured 

 by the ordinary whaling methods. They usually inhabit deep water 

 where they quickly sink when shot with the powerful bomb guns. 



Breeding habits. Little is known of the breeding habits of whales, 

 but Guldberg says the mating takes place in summer on the coast of 

 Finmark and Lapland, where he once saw a pair in the act of copula- 

 tion on July 15, 1883. The period of gestation is supposed to be about 

 a year, and the single young is born the following summer. There 



