118 



ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



Hair. Although devoid of a hairy covering, the whalebone whales have retained a certain 

 number of hairs in definite places, that possibly serve a tactile function. In the Provincetown 

 1909 whale that I examined, there were on the upper jaw near the middle of the tip, a few scat- 

 tered grayish hairs, and on the lower jaw in the region of the symphysis some hundred or more, 

 stiff, projecting bristles about one fourth of an inch long, and arranged in fairly definite rows 

 trending toward the midline at a considerable angle (see diagram, text-fig. 1). In addition 



TEXT-FIG. 1. Diagram to show arrangement of hairs at the chin of the North Atlantic Right Whale. 



there were one or two longer bristles of an inch or so, protruding from the great excrescences at 

 each side of the symphysis. Andrews (1908) in the Long Island specimen found about 150 

 white hairs "between the tip of the snout and the anterior end of the bonnet" and about the 

 same number in the region of the mandibular symphsis. 



Baleen. The whalebone or baleen plates are arranged in two longitudinal series, one on each 

 side of the roof of the mouth. The plates number some 250 on a side, of which the central are 

 the longest. In the 1895 Cape Cod specimen, the longest plate measured 5 feet 6 inches and was 

 7 inches broad at the base (fide J. H. Blake). In the Amagansett specimen the longest plate, ex- 

 clusive of the bristles, was 6 feet 5 inches (Andrews, 1908, p. 175). In tfie specimen in the Muse- 

 um of Comparative Zoology taken at Provincetown in 1864 "some of the whalebone was seven 

 feet in length" (J. A. Allen, 1908, p. 322) ; and True (1904) gives 7 feet 2 inches for the longest 

 recorded American specimen. The color of both plate and frayed bristles of the inner margin 

 is black, but in some specimens the extreme bases of the plates and their bristles (Andrews, 

 1908) or a few entire plates (Collett, 1909) at the anterior end of the series may be white. 



External Measurements. As stated by Dr. J. A. Allen (1908, p. 321) the largest American 

 specimen yet recorded is the adult female taken at Amagansett, Long Island, Feb. 22, 1907, 

 which measured 54 feet from the tip of the snout to the notch of the flukes. This is exactly 

 the same as given by Collett (1909) for the largest of the Iceland whales of which he had record, 

 and no doubt represents nearly the maximum size. He found further that the females seem to 

 average slightly larger than the males, though this difference is not very marked. Thus of 12 

 males killed in 1907, the extremes were 43 and 48 feet, and of 12 females, 44 and 49 feet. An- 

 drews (1908) has recorded the measurements of two specimens from Long Island, and those of a 

 few other American specimens are given by True (1904). The only published measurements 

 of a New England specimen are those given by the latter author, supplied him by Mr. J. H. 

 Blake from the 1895 Cape Cod specimen. These with some additions given me by Mr. Blake, 



