180 ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



rise to the name Bartenwalen (Bardehvalen in Norwegian) or Bearded Whales as applied 

 by German and Scandinavian writers to the Finbacks. 



Description. 



Form. In striking contrast to the Right Whale and the Humpback, the Fin Whales are 

 of elongate and graceful shape "clipper-built." This species, in particular, is of exceed- 

 ingly beautiful lines, the head elongated and narrower in proportion to its width than in the 

 others of the genus, the body long and evenly tapering with a high falcate fin on the back 

 nearly over the anus, the peduncle or ' small ' contracting towards the flukes with an elegant 

 curve in both dorsal and ventral outlines. The great lower jaw bows outward so as to receive 

 the narrowing upper jaw within its wall-like lips, and protrudes considerably beyond the tip 

 of the snout. The pectorals or flippers are not especially elongated, in fact, are comparatively 

 short, about 11 to 13 percent of the total length, rather narrow and pointed with the anterior 

 margin and distal part of the posterior margin much straighter than in the Blue Whale. The 

 flukes are distinctly and deeply notched at the middle of the posterior border; their anterior 

 edge is gently convex, the posterior slightly concave below the tips, then swelling to a gentle 

 convexity in the middle. The total breadth across the flukes is about one fifth the entire length. 



The eye is described by True as having a brown iris with a narrow and irregular white 

 border. The pupil is elliptical and with its long axis horizontal. 



The ear opening is directly on the surface some thirty inches behind the eye and very 

 slightly below it. It is oblong or nearly round and of a size large enough to admit with diffi- 

 culty the "point of the little finger" (Struthers). The opening narrows, and at a distance of 

 four or five inches from the exterior is "not larger than a crow quill." 



Plicae. The throat is marked by numerous longitudinal folds or plicae, like a series 

 of ridges and valleys, which permit of considerable extension and by means of a superficial 

 layer of muscular tissue may be brought together again. The purpose of this adaptation is 

 not wholly clear. Possibly it allows a greater extension of the lungs, or more probably, it 

 permits a great quantity of water to be engulfed, from which the small animals constituting 

 the food, are strained out by the whalebone sieve, on closing the jaws. Still a third supposi- 

 tion is that by contraction of these folds, the whale is able to decrease its bulk and sink more 

 easily in diving. The number of the plicae varies greatly, but in a line between the pectoral 

 flippers, averages about seventy with extremes fifty-six and eighty as recorded by True in seven 

 Newfoundland individuals. Not only do they run longitudinally from the lower part of the 

 lips back nearly to the navel, but they often bifurcate, coalesce, or send off side branchlets, 

 binding the entire system together. Posteriorly many of the plicae unite again so that the 

 number is reduced here. There are also a few short furrows between the corner of the mouth 



