North' Atlantic Fin-Whale Fishery. 415 



of Balcenoptera and possibly of other whalebone whales) may 

 be distinguished by the shape of the baleen-plates, which in 

 a male are long (up to 4 feet including gum) and narrow, 

 but thick ; while in a female they are short and broad, but 

 thinner.'"' Tlie baleen is mucii infested with a species of 

 copepod [Balcenophilus unisetus). 



The greatest length given by Mr. Cocks is tliat of a female 

 88 ft. 7 in. long, and the sexes occur in about equal numbers. 

 There is no certain information as to the season of pairing, 

 but two males are said to have been " making overtures " to 

 a female on August 5th. Capt. Sorensen believes they have 

 no fixed time for pairing, and foetuses have been found in 

 August measuring 13 ft., 18 ft. 9 in., 9 or 10 ft., and 

 15 ft. 6 in. ; Mr. Cocks, however, does not vouch for the 

 exactness of these measurements. Calves have been seen 

 following the mother estimated at 40, 50, or even 60 feet 

 long. The probable length of the sexually mature female is 

 about 70 feet. Dr. Guldberg is of opinion that the blue 

 whale goes with young eighteen or twenty months, and that, 

 judging mainly from the large size of the young ones which 

 have been seen following the mother, she produces only 

 every third year; but perhaps he does not fully allow for the 

 rapid growth of the young one. Two foetuses, both males 

 6 and 4 feet long respectively, were found in a female only 

 60 feet in length which was brought into Eide Fjord, Faros, 

 in June 1894, as recorded by Mr. Harvie-Brown in the 

 Ann. of Scottish Nat. Hist, for iipril 1905. 



No blue whales were taken from Shetland, but, in addition 

 to that already mentioned as killed from the Faroes in 1894, 

 forty-two of these whales and five sperm-whales were killed 

 last season (1904) from the station at Bunaveneader, Harris, 

 which would seem to indicate that this species follows a more 

 westerly course on its northward passage than the other 

 fin-whales. 



Newfoundland. 



Turning to the consideration of the blue or sulphur-bottom 

 whale, as it is known by the American whalemen, in the 

 Western Atlantic, we find, according to Dr. Trucks careful 

 statistics, that, like the common fin-whale, the dimensions of 

 the Newtoundland examples are on the average considerablv 

 less than those found in the European waters, although 

 agreeing fairly with the latter in other respects. In colour 

 there is a close resemblance, subject to the same considerable 

 individual variations, but all exhibiting more or less of the 

 characteristic irregular " milk-white spots " below the 

 pectorals on the fluted sides of the breast described by Sars. 



