MEGAPTERA. 41 



Megaptcropsis Van Ben., Res. Get. Belgique, Nouv. Mem. Acad. 

 Brux., 1861, p. 38. 



Pcescopia Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, p. 207, fig. 3. 



Head moderate; baleen short, broad; skin of throat plicate, or 

 folded; pectorals long and narrow, one-fourth of the entire length of 

 animal; dorsal low; vertebrae, 53; cervical vertebras free, sometimes 

 ankylosed; nuchal arch high, subcircular; frontal broad. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. 



A. Upper parts black. PAGE 



a. Belly white M. n. bellicosa 41 



b. Belly black M. versabilis 41 



nodosa bellicosa (Megaptera), Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., xn, 1870, 



P- 103. 

 FIGHTING WHALE. 



Type locality. Vicinity of St. Bartholomew's Island, West Indies. 



Geogr. Disir. Carribean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic. 



Genl. Char. Cranium similar to that of M. longimana; supra- 

 occipital with a deep median groove from foramen magnum to near 

 superior surface, with a protuberance on each side near middle; 

 nasals in contact for much of their length, external beveled portion 

 concealed by maxillae; otic bulla subcylindrical ; ramus slender, 

 curved; coronoid process subtriangular, acuminate; first rib with 

 head simple; scapula simple. 



Color. Above sooty black, under parts and pectoral fins beneath, 

 white spotted with black. 



Measurements. Total length, 32 feet. Skull, total length, 9 feet; 

 nasals, 11.5 inches; width of cranium behind orbits, 5 feet, 4 

 inches; ramus on curve, 9 feet, 10 inches. 



27. versabilis (Megaptera), Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil., 1869, 



p. 15. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 10. 

 HUMP-BACKED WHALE. 



Type locality. Northwest coast of America. 



Geogr. Distr. North Pacific Ocean to Alaska. 



Genl. Char. Pectoral fins between one-third and one-fourth the 

 total length; pectoral and gular folds, 26. 



Color. Above black, and in the most typical form the belly "is 

 said to be entirely black." (Cope, 1. c.) External face of the pectorals 

 black. 



