KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0 5. 31 



The foremost blades of baleen, situated at the tip of the jaw, were 12 cm. 

 long. The blades then increased in size in a backward direction till they reached 

 a length of 60 cm. counted from the surface of the gum to the tip without the 

 bristles. This greatest length was attained at a distance from the tip of the jaw of 

 2 m. — 2,20 m. From this place the blades again decreased gradually in size in a back- 

 ward direction so that the hind-most only attained a length of 3—4 cm. above 

 the gum. 



The blades stick into the gum to a considerable depth, so that the largest 

 pieces of this same whale, which have been preserved and brought liome by Sör- 

 ling, measured when cleaned and in a dry state about 75 cm. in length along the 

 outer margin without bristles. 



This length is fully as great as the greatest recorded by Trtje (20) for north- 

 ern Finbacks in the table of measurements compiled by this author. The southern 

 Finback has thus at least as large baleen as the northern race. The basal width 

 of the largest blades Sörling has brought along is about 30 — 35 cm. but the inner- 

 most portion is broken of so that they may have been somewhat still broader, 

 although probably not much. 



Burmeister (17) has recorded the dimensions of the largest blades of baleen 

 of his specimen of »Balcenoptera patachonica» which had a length of about 50 feet 

 to be 60 cm. in length and 15 cm. in breadth. This relation between length and 

 breadth appears to be very stränge and probably the great narrowness must be 

 attributed to mutilation on the inner side, but it might also be caused by the youth 

 and small size of the whale itself. It must, however, be born in mind, although 

 it cannot be fully explained now, that Burmeister has recorded for both Finback 

 and Blue whale comparatively much narrower baleen than those actually taken from 

 specimens of the corresponding species at South Georgia, and in both cases Bur- 

 meister^ specimens were smaller than the latter. 



The southern Finback has, unlike the northern race neither hairs at the lower 

 nor at the upper jaw, according to Sörling's observations. 



The backward extension of the furrows of the throat and breast may be seen 

 on Pl. V fig. 21 where the longest are seen to end on the sides of the navel. On 

 a male specimen of Finback shot outside Royal Bay, South Georgia the 2d of Jan. 

 1905, the skeleton of which was preserved, Sörling took the following measure- 

 ments. 



From tip of snont to bind margin of caudal fin (in a straight line) 19 m. 60 cm. 



From tip of snont to beginning of dorsal fin 14 m. 



From tip of snont to posterior margin of dorsal fin 16 m. 30 cm. 



From anterior margin of dorsal fin to liindmargin of candal fin 6 m. 20 cm. 



From anal opening to liindmargin of candal fm 5 m. 80 cm. 



From tip to tip of candal flnkes 4 m. 40 cm. 



Length of pectoral fin from anterior axilla to tip 2 in. 50 cm. 



Basal length of dorsal fin 2 ni. 30 cm. 



Length of anterior margin of dorsal fin 2 ni. 



Vertical height of dorsal fin measured from tip to base-line 50 cm. 



