24 CALIFORNIA MAMMADS. 



Genus Sibbaldius Gray. (For Robert Sibbald.) 

 Dorsal fin small, curved, pectoral fin small; head long; skin 



of throat with small long-itudinal furrows; baleen short; cervical 



\-ertebras free. 



Sibbaldius sulfureous Cope. (Sulphur colored. ) 



SULPHUR- BOTTOMED WHALE. 



Largest living' mammal; brown or gray above; sulphur yel- 

 low below. 



North Pacific Ocean. 



"The largest whale found on the coas*. and the largest 

 known, is the Sulphur-bottom. Never having had an opportunity 

 of obtaining an accurate measurement of its proportions, \\e can 

 only state them approximately. Length sixty tO' one hundred 

 feet. Its body is comparatively more slender than that of th-^ 

 California Gray. Its pectorals are proportionately small, even in 

 comparison with the Sperm Whales which in size and shape they 

 very nearly resemble, being short and rounded at their extremi- 

 ties. Its caudal fin bears about the same proportion to the body 

 as does that of the Finback, while the dorsal is m.uch smaller 

 and nearer the posterior extremity. Its head is more elongated 

 than that of the Finners. Its baleen is broader at the base; the 

 color being a jet black in several specimens that we have exam- 

 ined, while others were of a bluish hue. 



"Captain Roys, of whaling notoriety, has kindly furnished 

 me with the following memoranda of a Sulphur-bottom Whale 

 which was taken by him while he was in command of the barque 

 Iceland. Length 95 feet; girth 39 feet; length of jawbone 21 

 feet ; length of longest baleen 21 feet ; yield of baleen 800 pounds ; 

 yield of oil no barrels; weight of whole animal, by calculation, 

 147 tons. 



"The Sulphur-bottom, in its food and manner of feeding, is 

 like the other whales of its kind. It is a true rorcjual, with folds 

 beneath the anterior part of the animal, which are a series of fine 

 longitudinal furrows. The color of this, the greatest whale of 



