APPENDIX 



II. DIAGNOSES OF THE WHALES DESCRIBED IN 

 THIS BOOK 



BLUE WHALE, SULPHURBOTTOM 

 Bal&noptera miisculus (Linn.) 



Very large size. Average length, 76 feet; maximum 

 length, 87 feet. The pectoral fins are about 15 per cent, of 

 the total length, falcate and bluntly pointed. The dorsal fin 

 is small and variable in form, but usually more or less fal- 

 cate; it is situated behind the line of the anus. Many ven- 

 tral folds. 



The color of the body is mottled gray, the proportions of 

 light and dark tints varying greatly in different individuals, 

 but the body is usually lightest at the shoulder and between 

 the flippers and the umbilicus. The head is a little darker 

 than the body and unmarked. A few entirely white spots 

 are usually present on the posterior ends of the abdominal 

 folds. 



The pectoral fins are gray on the upper surface, except at 

 the tip, and white below. The flukes are plain gray above, 

 and below are marked with fine light and dark gray lines 

 running antero-posteriorly. The dorsal fin is dark gray and 

 the whalebone black. 



The rostrum of the skull is very broad with the free 

 margins of the maxill?e convex; the nasal bones are oblong 

 with truncated anterior margins. Vertebral formula: cer- 

 vicals 7, dorsals 15 (-16), lumbars 14 (-16), caudals 26 

 (-28). Total, 63-65. Habitat: cosmopolitan. 



FINBACK, RAZORBACK 

 Balccnoptcra physalus (Linn.) 



Large size and very slender form. Average total length, 

 62 feet; the maximum, 81 feet. The pectoral fins are about 

 12 per cent, of the total length, lanceolate and pointed. The 



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