518 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



killed, since the whalers select the larger females. The yield 

 of oil is small, about 10-15 barrels per whale; those from South 

 African waters are found to have thinner blubber than those 

 from the Antarctic Ocean. While the International Agreement 

 for the Regulation of Whaling, of 1937, does not specifically 

 protect this whale, it seems likely that other general regula- 

 tions may have that effect, such as the prohibition of the 

 killing of finbacks under 55 feet long and the prohibition against 

 killing females accompanied by suckling young; also the re- 

 striction of hunting in any given area to six consecutive months 

 in a year may act as a further favoring condition in some 

 regions. 



BRYDE'S WHALE 



BALAENOPTERA BRYDEI Olsen 



Bdaenoptera brydei Olsen, Tidens Tegn (Norwegian newspaper), Nov. 12, 1912; Proc. 



Zool. Soc. London, 1913, p. 1074 (Saldanha Bay, west coast of South Africa). 

 FIGS.: Olsen, 1913, pis. 109, 110 (exterior); Lonnberg, 1931, pis. 1-6 (skeleton). 



Very little is known of this whale, which was first described 

 in 1912. Dr. R. C. Andrews (1916) pointed out that it re- 

 sembles the Sei whale in general, but the dorsal fin is less high. 

 The distinguishing features are said by its describer to be, in 

 addition to the shorter dorsal fin, the fewer ventral folds (42- 

 54), extending back to the umbilicus instead of ending in 

 advance of it; baleen plates fewer (250-280 in each rank) and 

 shorter (longest 50 cm. long) ; bristles of the baleen very thick, 

 long, and stiff, not curling, and gray in color; the anterior 

 baleen more or less white, the rest grayish black; color of the 

 throat dark bluish gray, the under side behind the anus white. 

 Total length, 13-15 meters; females larger than males. 



The species seems now to be recognized as probably valid. 

 Nevertheless the whalers regard these whales as perhaps hy- 

 brids between the Sei whale and one of the other fin whales, 

 as the common finback. More recently Lonnberg (1931) has 

 figured and described the skeleton and believes the species a 

 distinct one. Externally the extension of the throat folds to 

 the umbilicus and the stiff bristles of the whalebone may be 

 diagnostic, but on the other hand there are many resemblances 

 to a small finback. 



In addition to the coastal waters of South Africa, from Natal 

 to Angola (13-14 S.), where the species has been taken in 



