NOTES ON A COMMON FIN WHALE. 
207 
the head a little above the angle of the mouth. In figures of 
this, as probably also in those of several other whales, its size is 
greatly exaggerated. The blow-holes I could not see owing to 
the position of the animal. The sexual orifice was placed almost 
directly beneath (just in front of) the dorsal fin. The anus 
was immediately behind. 
The jaws were of about equal length, the lower jaw very 
slightly projecting. In describing a male whale belonging to 
this species, 61 feet in length, stranded near Portsmouth in 
1868, Dr. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., states that the lower jaw 
projected eighteen inches beyond the upper.* In this respect 
the Littleton whale certainly differs from the Portsmouth whale, 
the jaws being practically of equal length. The upper jaws are 
much narrower than the lower, and run pretty straight forwards 
to the pointed nose. The upper jaws are lined with baleen 
(whalebone) running all round a little within their outer margin. 
The baleen consists of numerous thin and closely set plates, 
imbedded in the gum of the upper jaws, from which they are 
suspended vertically. They are arranged transversely to the 
long axis of the jaw, on each side, in several (four) continuous 
series, which rapidly diminish in size inwardly, thus giving the 
whole palatine surface (with the exception of a smooth median 
ridge which is not occupied by whalebone) an elegant arched 
form. Into this arch, when the mouth is shut, fits the animal’s 
enormous tongue. The baleen plates are slightly curved, the 
convex surfaces being directed forwards. On removal from the 
body they shrink somewhat in drying and thus acquire a more 
pronounced curvature or spiral twist. The baleen plates vary 
considerably in different parts of the jaw, both in form, size, and 
colour. They are generally of a triangular shape (viz., an 
acute right-angled triangle with the long side of the right angle 
* P. Z. S., 1869, p. 604, pi. xlvii., f. 1. 
