CHAPTER XI: HUMPBACK WHALE; 

 CALIFORNIAN GREY WHALE. 



The two kinds of whale to be described in this chapter are 

 not considered together because they are closely related, but 

 rather because they are the two genera of whalebone whales 

 which do not come within the category either of Right 

 Whales or of typical Rorquals. The Humpback is, however, 

 included in the family — the Balaenopteridae — of which the 

 Rorqual genus is the only other representative ; but both its 

 appearance and its behaviour justifies the separation of the 

 Humpback from the other division of the family. The 

 California Grey Whale is even more isolated, differing so 

 widely from all other whalebone whales that it constitutes a 

 family — the Rhachianectidae — of which it is the sole living 

 representative. 



Genus Megaptera. 



THE HUMPBACK WHALE {Megaptera nodosa). 

 Plate VI b. 



The name Megaptera indicates the feature which serves best 

 to distinguish the Humpback Whale, namely the extra- 

 ordinarily long nippers, which may be nearly one-third of the 

 total length of the animal ; nodosa refers to the irregular knobs 



