ON THE GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE. 59 



it is also shown that the head of the large individual (fifty feet long) was only 0-31 of the whole 

 length ; the surpassing size of the head will accordingly appear to be peculiar to the older male 

 alone. This inference would become far more certain if we dare presume that the two 

 individuals measured by Scoresby, whose sex he has not stated, both of them large ones (fifty- 

 eight and fifty-one feet), and both with a comparatively small head (0-3276 and 0-3137), 

 were females. 



To express this result in few words : — The head of the Greenland whale at the time of its 

 birth must be supposed to be between two sevenths and one third of the whole length of the 

 body, in living specimens most likely nearer two sevenths, in those preserved in brine or spirit 

 (on account of the shrinking of the vertebral column), nearer one third; it continues in the 

 female throughout its life to be one third or somewhat less ; but in the male, during its growth, 

 the head will ultimately come to exceed one third ; nay, even become as large as two fifths. 

 Thus the male, though somewhat smaller than the female will, nevertheless, be found to have a 

 much larger head, even absolutely speaking.^ 



In comparing our measurements with those of Scoresby it will easily be observed that the 

 relative size of the head is, on the whole, stated somewhat higher by us than by him ; and his 

 measurements having been taken from fresh individuals, ours from skeletons or specimens that 

 have been kept for a shorter or longer time in brine or spirit, one might perhaps feel inclined 

 to think his more trustworthy than ours. Nor can it be denied that we never can be perfectly 

 sure, when speaking of a skeleton, that the vertebræ are placed at the right distance from each 

 other ; nor that, when speaking of the specimens preserved in brine or spirit of wine, we can 

 with certainty make due allowance for the shrinking of the intervertebral ligaments. But before 

 we should absolutely prefer the measurements of Scoresby to ours, it would be necessary to 

 know, not only whether the measures are taken in a line parallel with the axis of the body, 

 (which, perhaps, we ought to consider as a matter of course) but also, where he fixed the limit 

 between the head and the body. In the skeleton we can hardly hesitate in setting it in the 

 articulation between the occipital bone and the atlas. Above this point we find, externally, 

 both the auditory orifices and the anterior angle between the breast fins and the body. But 

 these orifices are extremely difficult to find, and it may be doubted whether Scoresby has 

 considered everything placed before the fins as forming parts of the head. If he has taken the 

 limits between the head and the body to be somewhat in front the point in question, he must have 

 rated the comparative size of the former too low. 



We might be tempted to believe that in the South whale group some species may be 

 found with heads proportionately as large as those of the North whales, when we consider the fact 

 that their whalebone may attain to even the greatest length of the whalebone of the Greenland 

 whale (fifteen feet). Nevertheless, it is a fact, that in those few skeletons of this group which 

 have hitherto been measured, the head has always proved to be under a third of the total length. 

 According to Cuvier's measurements, the great Cape whale w^as 14m. 55 long ('Ossem. 

 Foss.,' vol. V, p. 384), its head (ibid., p. 377) 4m. 30, or only |^ instead of ^=one third."- 

 The head of the young one is stated in the same work at p. 368 to be only two feet long, but 



- See Appendix. ' 



^ The ratio will, iadeed, be ma de higher — even above one third — if we follow his statement of the size 

 of the head of the same skeleton nine pages before (p. 368), namely, 15 pieds ; for this would make 4 m. 87. 



