214 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



It appears that the maximum for Newfoundland specimens, whether males or 

 females, is considerably less than for those taken at the Finmark fishery. The 

 average is slightly larger for the Newfoundland males and considerably smaller for 

 the females. As the figures include immature specimens these averages are of little 

 value. 



The male taken by Capt. Horn in 1886, and included in Cocks's statistics above 

 given, is the largest North Atlantic Humpback of which there is a definite record. 

 This was 53 ft. long, English measure. The largest female is that taken by Capt. 

 Berg in 1885, which was 51^ ft., English, in a straight line. Cocks says of this 

 specimen : " Capt. Berg told me that he had this season captured the biggest Hump- 

 back he has hitherto seen. It was a female, and measured 50 Norwegian feet (51^ 

 feet, English) in a straight line (measured as Dr. Guldberg had directed) " (17, 6, 

 sep.). None of the specimens which have stranded from time to time on the Euro- 

 pean or American coasts equal these two in length. Rawitz measured four Hump- 

 backs at Bear Id. in 1899 (74, 75). The lengths, from the tip of the mandible 

 to the notch of the flukes, were as (follows : (1) ?, 34 ft. 5 in. (10.5 m.) ; (2) &, 

 41 ft. (12.5 m.); (3) t> , 41 ft. 8 in. (12.7 m.) ; (4) ?, 46 ft. 9 in. (14.25 m.) 

 The mandible extended 10 cm. beyond the upper jaw. Rawitz remarks casually 

 that all four were sexually mature, but this cannot be accepted as correct. He 

 mentions no fostuses. 



There are numerous general statements in literature according to the American 

 Humpback much greater size than is above given. Many of these have been 

 collected by Van Beneden (7, 111) and commented on at some length, and have 

 also attracted the attention of Prof. Struthers (87, 4, foot-note). Van Beneden was 

 inclined to credit the larger size, but Struthers appears sceptical. 



The largest measurement is that given by an anonymous writer in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1665 (Vol. i., No. 1, March 6, 1665, pp. 11 and 13; No. 8, 

 Jan. 8, 166f, pp. 132-133), in an account of the whale fishery at the Bermudas. 

 He states as follows : " Two old females and three cubs were taken at first and 

 afterwards 16 other individuals. One old female was 88 ft. long, the flukes 23 ft. 

 broad, the flipper 26 ft. long, the baleen 3 ft. long. The other female was about 

 60 ft. long, and of the cubs one was 33 ft. long, and the remaining two 25 or 26 ft." 

 The great length of the flipper proves that the 88-ft. specimen was really a 

 Humpback, and the proportion to the total length is nearly the same as in smaller 

 European and American specimens. 



In Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer, pub- 

 lished in 1782, it is stated that the "Humpbacks on the coast of Newfoundland 

 [are] from 40 to 70 feet in length." This general statement may, of course, be set 

 aside as merely an opinion, or impression, but the measurements given in the case 

 of the Bermuda Humpback cannot be so treated. Regarding this, Van Beneden 

 makes the following excellent remarks (7, 110-111) : 



" There is without doubt a little exaggeration, but to judge by many bones 

 that we have seen at Paris, Stockholm, and Bordeaux, the exaggeration is not 

 great. . . . 



