248 MR. R. COLLETT ON BALENOPTERA BOREALIS. _[Feb. 2, 
Ill. Measurements. 
Most of the examples caught were between 40 and 50 feet 
in length. The usual length was 44-45 feet or thereabouts. The 
largest specimens measured 52 feet’ (16°3 metres). The 6 specimens 
which I examined thoroughly were 43 to 493 feet in length (see 
p- 247). ‘The last of these (a male) was considered to be one of the 
largest caught ; so that it may be laid down as a rule that they 
rarely exceed 50 feet (15°6 metres). 
The smallest specimens this summer that I know of were 35-37 
feet, but these were exceptional. A single specimen was caught in 
July at Mehavn (by Foyn), the length of which was said at the place 
to be 323 feet (10°1 metres). 
Both sexes seem to attain about the same size; the largest 
female specimen that I examined was 47 feet long (14:7 metres). 
One of the managers stated that if there were any difference, the 
female was the largest and fattest, at any rate during the whaling- 
season. 
The size appeared the same throughout the season, and it was 
remarkable to notice how uniform it was, and how evidently the 
whales were all of about the same age. 
IV. Structure of the Body. 
The Structure of the body seems to correspond with that of B. sib- 
baldi, which it on the whole resembles in its mode of living. 
The body is highest across the middle of the flippers, where, in 
the case of the living animal, the height is to the total length about 
as 1 to 53 (as in the case of B. sibbaldi). In the stranded animal, 
when the belly is compressed by the ground, the proportion is as 
about 1 to 6. The height of the body is thus not so great as in 
B. rostrata, which is at that point relatively the largest of all the 
four species. 
The form of the hinder part of the body does not differ essentially 
from that of the other species. Immediately under the dorsal fin the 
height is one eighth of the total length, and halfway between the dorsal 
fin and the root of the tail one tenth. From these proportions it 
will be seen that in this respect it also correspouds most nearly with 
B. sibbaldi, and is neither of the exceedingly slender ‘‘ emaciated ” 
form of B. musculus, nor of the comparatively stout form of B. 
rostrata. 
The breadth of the body can only be given approximately, and 
would seem across the flippers to be not very different from the 
height. From the vent to the root of the tail the body is strongly 
compressed, and the caudal part forms, as in the other species of 
Balenoptera, a thin ridge above and below, which is particularly 
sharp along the dorsal line. The breadth at the root of the tail at 
? [About 54 feet English, and so with the other measurements; the Norwegian 
foot almost = 123 inches English.—A. H. C.] 
