unusually small and almost everywhere of one height as far as the root of the
flukes.
‘ Colour above and also on the left side of the under jaw quite light grey,
brownish, or passing into sepia colour. The colour of the back, as in the Little
Piked Whale, descends obliquely from the pectoral fins across the sides of the body
and on the part lying behind the vent there is only a very narrow and sharply
defined white stripe along the ventral side.
‘ The length of the mouth is about equal to one fifth the total length, and the
upper jaw seen from above is quite narrow, conical, or uniformly decreasing in
breadth toward the tip.
‘ The pectoral fins are very small, scarcely exceeding one ninth the total length,
narrow, lanceolate, with the posterior angle unusually little prominent. On its
outer side showing the colour of the back, but the inner side and the whole of the
anterior border pure white.
‘ Dorsal fin proportionally rather high (at least in males) and of a triangular
form, with the tip not strongly curved,- and directed obliquely backward. It lies
rather far back, immediately behind a vertical line drawn through the anus.
‘ Flukes, pure white on the lower surface, with dark margins.
‘ Whalebone, dark bluish and somewhat variegated, but with the exception that
some of the most anterior of it is yellowish white, as in the Little Piked Whale.’
Sars seems to have been one of the few authors who took his colours
from life: nearly every author speaks of the upper part as black,1 a colour
which the model in the British Museum has been painted. This is quite
inaccurate. The upper parts are always sepia, passing into brownish grey on the
flanks. There is great individual variation in the species, which has led to some
confusion, and the creation of such names as ‘ bastard ’ -Whales. These are examples
in which the grey colour extends to the throat and ventral surface.2 The average
length of the longest baleen plates is twenty to thirty inches, being twelve to
1 Whales have a number of layers of epidermis, of which the outer is the thickest. When the Whale is dead the action
of the air rapidly causes these to dry or crack directly decomposition sets in. In the case o f the Finback the original colour
is lost and the exposed skin turns black.
* Mr. Haldane, who has enjoyed the best opportunities of studying these Whales both alive and dead, and to whom I am
indebted for many valuable notes, says (Ann. Scot. Nat. H ist. July 1906): ‘ Seen in the water, and I have been within twenty
yards of different Whales, the colour of the Whale (Finback) appears to be black. When killed it proves to b& a very dark
grey, which shades gradually into a steel-grey.’ I cannot agree with this. ‘ Black ’ is a colour seldom seen in nature. I too
have been within fifteen yards of Finbacks, and they did not appear black to me, but a very dark brown. When killed, the
light shining on the wet skin might be construed as ‘ a very dark grey,’ but without the open-air effect the colour of the upper
parts is sepia.
fourteen inches across the base. In colour these are variable; the foremost plates
are cream; as they become longer they are cream and blue-grey, or blue-grey
with light stripes; bristles, cream or buff. The number of plates on each side
is also variable; Murie gives 360 on each side. The plates of a large female
killed in Shetland in 1904, counted by myself, were 375 on each Mr.
Haldane states that he has counted 388' plates on an example taken in' 1905.
The colour of these is often asymmetrical. The same writer has noticed that
‘ the plates on the right side of the anterio?s»part of the jaw are yellowish white,
but on the le ft -side they are almost, always grey.’ This is without doubt the
case.1 I have seen a double plate, two being joined together near the base, taken
from a female killed near Rona’s Voe in 1904.
The auricular orifice is situated about thirty-six inches behind the eye, and is
three inches long. The iris is brown; the pupil black and elliptical in :1fprm.
The dorsal fin is falcate in form, but varies a good deal in size and shape;
vertical height from fourteen to twenty inches. The flukes of the tail are long
and somewhat curved, with strongly recurved tips.
Mr. Haldane, who has carefully kept the record of Whales killed in Shetland
and Harris, kindly sends me the following notes relating to the size of British-
killed Finbacks.
‘ The returns from the stations for this species killed in 1905 are:
Station.
Nouf mBublelsr killed.
Average oNfu Cmobwesr killed.
ALveenrgatghe.
Proofp Bourtlilos n per cent
Porof pCoorwtiso n per cent.
Norrona . . . • • • 42 61-3 3 1 61 *9 57*5 4 2 4
S h e t la n d .................................................. 24 6 2 '6 24 65*1 50-0 5° '°
A l e x a n d r a ........................................ 56 6 0 *9 3 1 6 4 7 64*3 35*6
Olna . . . . • • 8 l 58-2 83 58*4 49‘3 50*6
B unev en eade r........................................ 45 6 0 7 33 6 o ’2 57*6 42-3
248 . 6*0*5 202 62*0 5 5 7 44-1
‘ To get at the average length of the adult Whale, I gist, year deducted from
the total all Whales under 56 fe e t | | immature, which will give us for 1905:
Average o f bulls, 62*2 feet. Average o f cows, 64-0 feet,
against 1904 :
Average o f bulls, 62-9 fe e t Average o f cows, 66’0 feet.
• Whalers estimate the weight of baleen from a Finback to be two hundredweight. Freshly cut from the upper jaw it
probably weighs double this.