THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 215 



" It appears at all events that in the European seas this animal attains this 

 size but rarely, and if we see iu the museums of Paris and Stockholm bones of extra- 

 ordinary dimensions, we ought to believe that the sailors who have collected these 

 pieces have chosen the bones which were the most remarkable on account of their 



size." 



The 88-foot Humpback of 1665 must have been considered as presenting very 

 extraordinary proportions, first, because measurements were made of the flippers, 

 flukes, and whalebone, which was unusual at that time, and second, because the 

 other " old female " is recorded as having a length of only 60 feet. 



The Greenland Humpback, called Keporkak by the natives, was stated by 

 Holboll to "reach a length of about 60 feet." (37, 196.) 1 This does not indicate 

 a size much, if any, beyond that of the largest Norwegian specimens. 



A much more satisfactory idea of the real size of these whales will be obtained 

 by ascertaining the average size of adults. Unfortunately, this cannot be done by 

 averaging the total length of skeletons in which the condition of the bones indicates 

 full maturity, for very few such skeletons are known. The most that can be done 

 will be to obtain an average of the length of specimens of females observed to con- 

 tain foetuses and hence at least sexually mature. No doubt the length may increase 

 somewhat after sexual maturity is attained, but we shall have at least a convenient, 

 and really significant minimum, and will be enabled to throw out specimens which 

 are in every sense immature. 



As already noted on p. 212, two females containing foetuses captured at the 

 Snook's Arm Station, Newfoundland, in 1899, were respectively 46 ft. 6 in. and 

 45 ft. 5 in. long. The average of these two is 45 ft. 11^ in. 



Among the Finmark specimens recorded by Cocks is one female (with foetus) of 

 45 feet, English, a length nearly equal to that of the Snook's Arm specimens. Cocks 

 records three other females of greater length, and therefore entitled to be considered 

 mature. The average length of the four specimens is 48 ft., a considerable in- 

 crease over the average for the two Snook's Arm specimens, but still more nearly 

 comparable with it than with the extraordinary dimensions already considered. 



A female with young stranded between Fa and Kami Ids., Stavanger Amt, 

 Norway, in 1846, and believed by Eschricht to have been a Humpback, measured 

 45 feet, Norwegian, or 46 ft. 4 in., English, a very close approximation to the 

 Snook's Arm females. 



The Finmark specimen described by Sars iu 1881, which was a mature female 

 (80, 8), was 14.2 m., or 46 ft. 7 in. (English), long in a straight line from tip of 

 lower jaw to notch of flukes. The figure, measured along the curve of the back 

 from the tip of the upper jaw to the notch, gives a length of 46 ft. 1 in., English. 

 This is also very close to the larger of the Newfoundland specimens. 



These and other data are brought together for comparison in the following 

 table : 



1 Van Beneden interprets this statement incorrectly as follows : " Holboll va jusqu'a 60 pieds." 

 (7, in.) The original is " Der Keporkak erreicht eine Grosse von gegen 60'." 



