352 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PKIBILOF ISLANDS. 



BOWHEAD WHALE. 

 Bahvna mysiicetus Linuiieus. 



Boues of the bowbead are iininerous about the islands, particularly at Northeast 

 Point. I made the following uieasurenieuts of a right mandible ou the beach north 

 of Lukanunon: 



Ft. In. 



Total length (straight) 18 8 



Length along outer curve 20 4 



Greatest depth of the proximal end 2 



Dei)th at the middle of length 1 3 



Depth 1 foot from distal end 1 { 



Diameter of incisive foramen, 7 by 5 inches. 



The left mandible, presumably of the same individual, lay near by, but was much 

 weathered. 



Ill tlie right maudible the internal groove started from the lower nnirgin of the 

 incisive foramen as a shallow trough, about 1 inch broad, and curved down toward the 

 lower margin of the Jaw, becoming a narrow line inclosing a narrow channel fully 1 

 inch deep. It ran along close to the lower margin for three fourths the length of the 

 jaw and then forked, and, becoming more and more shallow, was finally lost. The 

 coronoid i)r()oess was represented only by a faint swelling of the margin. 



The bones on the beaches are from dead whales which wash up from time to time 

 in winter. 



One stranded on St. George in 1889, and about 1,600 pounds of whalebone, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Palmer, were obtained from it by the natives, who received ll a pound 

 from the company. Another came ashore the same year near East Landing, on 

 St. I*aul. The mass of cervical vertebra' and a number of ribs were still there in 

 1895. 1 also found a portion of a skull imbedded in Zoltoi Sands, which may have 

 been of the sauie individual. 



LARGE FINBACK WHALE. 



liahvnoptera relifera (Ooj)e). 



The hind part of a skull of a large finback, wliich may be this species, was found 

 by Mr. Prentiss and myself on the shore of the lagoon in 1895. The greatest breadth 

 across the temjjorals was G.35 feet. The height of the occii)ital from the upi)er margin 

 of the foramen magnum to the- nasals was 3.15 feet. 



I saw nothing of these whales about the Pribilof Islands in the summer of 1895, 

 but when returning homeward observed them in large numbers on September 3 along 

 the south coast of Kadiak. Mr. Palmer remarked in 1890: ''Not common about the 

 islands in summer, but a number were seen after leaving St. George for the south on 

 August 11. A dead one was stripped of its ' bone ' on St. Paul last winter." 



DAVIDSON'S LESSER RORQUAL. 



liaUvnopiira daridsoni Se.immon. 



The bones of a small finback belonging without doubt to this species' were found 

 at Rocky Point, St. Paul. There were 27 in all — the seventh cervical, 11 dorsals, and 

 15 lumbars and caudals. 



'If distiact from the H. acuto-roxlrdtu of the Atlniitic, which Van Heneden denied. 



