278 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Second Contribution to a History of the DELPHINID.E. 



BY E. D. COPE. 



Beluga rhinodon, sp. nov. 



Dr. Isaac I. Hayes brought, from his last Arctic expedition, the skeletons 

 of two evidently different species of White Whales. These, with another in 

 the Academy's Museum, brought by Dr. E. K. Kane, I enumerated as speci- 

 mens of the common Beluga catodon, in my "First Contribution to the 

 History of the Delphinidae," but subsequently, after a thorough study, I was 

 compelled to believe they had belonged to as many species, and recorded 

 them as such at a meeting of the Academy, % {vide Proceedings, 1865, p. 274.) 

 After a study of more extended material, I have come to the conclusion that 

 the genus of White Whales, like that of Corvus, Quiscalus, etc., is represented 

 by several species of similar color. This view is consistent with our know- 

 ledge of its distribution throughout all the Arctic seas, and the great num- 

 bers in which they occur on the coasts of all Arctic regions. At present I 

 give briefly the diagnostic characters of four species, premising that I have 

 not at present means of determining the full characters of two, Beluga 

 vermontana, Thompson, and Beluga k i n g i i, Gray. The present species 

 comes under section 



a. Cervical vertebrae distinct; no vertebral canal ; dorsals and ribs ten ; 

 acromion recurved. 



Muzzle short, to notch equal from notch to supraoccipital crest; exposed 

 prenareal part of maxillaries extending to opposite notch. Palatines barely 

 in contact ; vomer well developed behind them. No tubercular process on 

 first rib. Teeth 46. 



Beluga c at o d on, auctorum. 



Muzzle to notch one-half of whole cranium ; exposed portion of maxilla- 

 ries half way to notch ; palatines much in contact; vomer scarcely developed 

 behind ; first rib with an elongate tubercular process. Teeth " 8 8 to 10 

 10." 



a, Cervical vertebrae distinct, no vertebral canal ; dorsals and ribs 

 eleven ; acromion decurved. 



Beluga d e c 1 i v i s, sp. nov. 



Muzzle to notch half length of cranium; exposed portion of maxillaries 

 half way to notch ; palatines widely separated ; vomer well developed be- 

 hind them; first rib with an elongate tubercular process. Teeth 9 10. 



**. Axis and third vertebra anchylosed by centrum and diapophyses, 

 latter perforate for vertebral artery ; dorsals and ribs eleven ; acro- 

 mion recurved. 



Beluga c o n c r e t a, sp. nov. 



Muzzle to notch half total length of cranium ; exposed portion of maxilla- 

 ries half way to notch; palatines largely in contact; vomer little developed 

 behind them. No tubercular process on first rib. Teeth 6 7. 



In the d e c 1 i v i s and concreta the neural spine of the axis is steeply 

 tectiform and keeled; in the catodon and rhinodon very flat. The 

 diapophyses of the seventh cervical are longer and more recurved in the 

 rhinodon than in the others. 



The length of the skeleton of the rhinodon is 7 feet 10| inches ; .of 

 the con ere ta 13 feet 2^ inches. The former, and that of the c a t o d o n, 

 are from Upernavilt ; those of the concreta and d e c 1 i v i s were obtained 

 by Dr. Kane ; the last is in the Museum Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, 

 Mass. 



[Dec. 



