THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 163 



The central part of the surface of the dorsal fin is usually more or less white 

 or whitish, streaked with vertical curved gray lines, but in some cases the light color 

 is reduced to spots, or is altogether absent. 



The pectorals are gray above and more or less distinctly mottled like the 

 back. The under surface, anterior margin, and tip above and below are white. 



The median line of the body below is usually plain dark gray between the 

 anus and the flukes, but commonly more or less mottled with light color from the anus 

 to the navel by the joining of the light areas of the two sides of the body. There 

 are usually white marks and dashes around the anus, sexual orifice, and navel. 



The variation in amount of white and gray on the pectorals of the New- 

 foundland Sulphurbottoms was very considerable and merits special mention. 



The external, or upper, surface of the pectorals is gray proximally, and more or 

 less white distally. The gray may be like the darker color of the back and uniform, 

 or may be varied with from one to six or seven blotches of lighter gray. The white 

 of the tip varies in extent from a mere continuation of the anterior white border, to 

 a solid white area having a longitudinal extent of from 6 inches to 2 feet. In some 

 cases the white extends backward, forming a narrow posterior border almost to the 

 root of the pectoral. In other cases the backward extension takes the form of 

 a succession of oblique white lines, rather than a continuous border of that color. 

 In very light individuals white lines may run backward from the tip for nearly 

 \ the length of the pectoral. The white area of the tip is always more or less 

 varied by dark lines, which may be long or short, parallel or reticulated. The 

 anterior margin of the pectorals is normally white throughout, but in some instances 

 the dark gray of the external face extends across the proximal half, or there may 

 be various gray lines. In one instance there was a dark-gray patch on the anterior 

 margin near the middle of its length. The limb appeared to have been injured at 

 this point. 



The internal, or under, surface of the pectorals is normally white throughout, but 

 there are almost always some gray lines and marks. These sometimes take the form 

 of spots, but are usually lines, and may be fine or coarse, and either parallel with the 

 axis of the pectoral, or oblique and reticulated. The single lines are sometimes 

 quite long, reaching almost from the tip to the root of the pectoral. The shorter 

 dark lines are most abundant about the tip, and those individuals in which the tips 

 are malformed usually have the most markings. 



The only important feature as regards coloration in which the Newfoundland 

 Sulphurbottom appears to differ from the European, as shown by the preceding 

 description, is in the color of the dorsal fin. In the Newfoundland specimens this 

 fin was usually more or less white or whitish, except on the margins, with darker 

 curved lines extending up vertically from its base. There is no mention of this 

 peculiarity in the descriptions of European Sulphurbottoms I have consulted, 

 though it must be said that in most of the accounts the dorsal fin is scarcely 

 described at all. Sir Win. Turner remarks of the Longniddry whale (91, 202) that 

 the dorsal fin was " steel-gray or black, except near its posterior border, where it 

 was a shade lighter and streaked with black lines." The introduction of black here 



