4'2 BAL./ENOPTERA. 



The Finback Whales are numerous in species and are met with in 

 all seas except the Polar. Their baleen is short and of inferior 

 quality, and the amount of oil yielded by an individual is small, while 

 their activity makes them so difficult to capture that they do not 

 afford a sufficient recompense for the risk and labor, unless steam 

 vessels and harpoon guns are employed. They are known by various 

 names, such as Rorquals, Finbacks, Razor-backs, etc. 



Sub f am. I. Balaenopterinse. Finback "Whales. 



16. Balaeiioptera. 



Balsenoptera Lace'p., Hist. Nat. Get., 1804, pp. xxxvi, xxxvn, 114- 

 141, pis. iv, v. Type Bal&noptera gibbar Desmoulins. 



Physalus Lacep., Hist. Nat. Get., 1804, pp. XL, 219-226. 



Cetoptera Rafin., Analyse Nat., Adden., 1815, p. 219. 



Benedenia Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, p. 211. 



Sibbaldus Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, p. 222. 



Sibbaldius Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, p. 391. 



Cuvierius Gray, Cat. Seals, and Whales, 1866, p. 164, 1871, p. 54. 



Head small, flat, pointed; body elongate; baleen short, broad; 

 pectoral small, narrow, pointed; dorsal small, falcate; cervical verte- 

 brae free; skin of throat wrinkled. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A. Under parts white. 



a. Width of flukes less than one-fourth total PAGE 

 length B. davidsoni 42 



b. Width of flukes one-fourth total length B. velifera 43 



B. Under parts yellow B. sulfurea 43 



28. davidsoni (Balanoptera), Scamm., Proc. Calif. Acad. Scien., iv, 



1872, p. 269. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 12. 

 DAVIDSON'S WHALE. 



Type locality. Admiralty Inlet, Coast of Washington. 



Geogr. Distr. West coast of North America, Mexico to Bering 

 Straits. 



Genl. Char. Dorsal small, falcate; pectorals small, narrow: 

 baleen pure white. Laminae 270 on each side, not exceeding 10 feet 

 in length. 



Color. Above dull black, beneath white; pectorals and caudal 

 black above, white beneath; a white band across pectorals near their 

 base; gular folds, 70, milky white, interspaces pinkish. 



Measurements. Total length, 27 feet; pectorals, 4 feet i inch wide; 

 height of dorsal, 10 inches; width of flukes, 7 feet, 6 inches. 



