352 THE. FUR SEALS OF THE PEIBILOP . ISLANDS. 



BOWHEAD WHALE. 



Balwna viysUcetus Linnaeus. 



Bones of the bowhead are Jiuinerous about the islands, particularly at Northeast 

 Point. I made the following measurements of a right mandible on the beach north 

 of Lukanunon: 



Et. In. 



Total length (straight) , 18 8 



Length along outer curve - 20 4 



Greatest depth of the proximal end 2 



Depth at the middle of length — 1 3 



Depth 1 foot from distal end 1 i 



Diameter of Incisive foramen, 7 by 5 inches. 



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

 weathered. 



In the right mandible the internal groove started from the lower margin 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 process was represented only by a faint swelling of the margin. 



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

 in winter. 



One stranded on St. George in 1889, and about l,500pounds of whalebone, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Palmer, were obtained from it by the natives, who received $1 a pound 

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

 St* Paul. The mass of cervical vertebrae and a number of ribs were still there in 

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

 been of the same individual. 



LARGE FINBACK WHALE. 

 Balcenoptera velifera (Cope). 



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

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

 across the temporals was 6.35 feet. The height of the occipital from the upper 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. 

 Balwnoptera davidsoni Scammon. 

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

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

 15 lumbars and caudals. 



■If distinct from the S. acuto-rosirata of the Atlantic, which Van Beneden denied. 



