152 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



as between 80 ft. and 85 ft. In view of this uncertainty, to which Turner (91, 

 244) has already called attention, the Ostend specimen can scarcely be cited as 

 representing the maximum length, though there is no doubt it was a thoroughly 

 adult, or old, individual. A specimen 30 meters long, or 98 ft. 4 in., is mentioned 

 by Fischer (44, 72) as stranded at Dunquerque, in 1863. No particulars are given. 

 The bibliographic reference is to Fredol's Le Monde de la Mer, a book with 

 which I am not acquainted. Beauregard gives the same length, 30 m., for a male 

 stranded at Oessant, France, in Feb., 1893 (Comp. rend. Soc. JBiol. (9) 5, 1893, 274). 



Another very large measurement is that of Scoresby (84, i-, p. 482), for a speci- 

 men stranded in the Humber River, in 1750. The length recorded is 101 feet. So 

 far as I am aware, this is not verified. The North Berwick specimen, described by 

 Knox (62~), is said by him to have been 78 ft. in a straight line from the snout to 

 the notch of the flukes, but he adds that " if the line had been passed along the 

 surface of the body, following its flexuosity, the whole length would have been 

 from 90 to 95 feet," a statement which may perhaps be properly questioned. 



Bars remarked in 1874 (75, 7, sep.) : "The largest example I had opportunity 

 to see was fully 80 feet 1 long in a straight line." This statement is indefinite. 

 A specimen of this species, figured and described by Van Beneden (7, 257) from 

 notes furnished by Dr. Otto Finsch, is given a length of 86 feet. It was a female, 

 and was captured near Vadso, East Finmark, July 7, 1873. Whether the measure- 

 ment is French or German is not stated ; if the latter, it would amount to 88 ft. 

 7 in. English measure. 



The length of the Longniddry (Scotland) whale, according to Sir Wm. Turner 

 (91, 199), was 78 ft. 9 in. "along the middle line of the back, from the tip of the 

 lower jaw to the end of the tail." As the lower jaw projected 1^- ft. beyond the 

 upper, the length from the tip of the snout would be 77 ft. 3 in. The expression 

 " end of the tail," as shown by the context, means the notch of the flukes. 



From the foregoing records it appears that the largest reliable measurements 

 are those given by the Scandinavian zoologists and by Dr. Otto Finsch. The 

 measurement by Aurivillius and Forstand, if in Norwegian feet, represents the 

 maximum. This is 86 feet, which, if Norwegian, equals 88 ft. 7 in., English measure. 

 Dr. Finsch's Vadso specimen, if the measurement was in Rheinland feet, was of 

 the same length, 88 ft. 7 in., English measure. Next follows Guldberg's speci- 

 men 84 feet Norwegian, which equals 86 ft. 6 in., English measure. The largest 

 of the whaler's measurements cited by Cocks is 85 ft. Norwegian, which equals 

 87 ft. 6^- in., English measure (17, 7, sep.). 



It has to be said of all these measurements that they can only be regarded as 

 approximate, as it is not definitely stated whether they are from the tip of the 

 upper or the lower jaw, from the notch or the border of the flukes, along the 

 curves or in straight lines. 



The total length and the sex of specimens taken at Balena station, Newfound- 

 land, in the summer of 1901, and measured by myself, with the assistance of Dr. 

 D. W. Prentiss, were as follows : 



1 Equals 82 ft. 5 in., English. 



