16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



osphyia and M. k u z i r a. They are between one-third and one-fourth 

 the length ; in the two last mentioned, between one-fourth and one-fifth. It 

 has 26 pectoral and gular folds. Siebold states that the M. kuzira pos- 

 sesses but ten. In this animal the warts extend to the top of the front, a 

 character not ascribed to any Atlantic Megaptera. It differs also from M. 1 o n- 

 g i m a n a, and resembles M. 1 a 1 a n d i i and M. kuzira, in having the pec- 

 toral black on the external face ; in the Greenland species and in the model 

 of the Aleutian Islanders, described by Chamisso, it is white. The character- 

 istic color of the belly, in the most typical form, is said to be entirely black. 

 In this respect it differs from all other Megapterte, which present more or less 

 white or grey, on the inferior surfaces at least. 



BALJSNOPTERA Lacep. 



Many species of this genus inhabit the immense area of the ocean. They 

 are regarded as pertaining to two genera by Gray. Thus the known species 

 fall into two groups, viz.: I, those in which the dorsal fin is at the commence- 

 ment of the third fourth of the length from the head ; and II, those where this 

 fin measures only the second third. To the first belong certainly only B. r o s- 

 t r a t a and B. v e 1 i f e r a : to the second B. p h y s a 1 u s, B. d u g u i d 1 and 

 B. sibbaldii G ra.y (Cuvierius Gray), all Atlantic. There is not enough 

 known of the following species to determine their characters in this respect: 

 B. a r c t i c a Schlegel, N. West Pacific ; B. swinhoei Gray, China Seas ; B. 

 patachonica Gray, S. W. Atlantic ; B. antarctica Gray, New Zealand 

 Sea. The following species have been named : B. f asc i a ta (Physalus Gr.), 

 B. australis Desmoul. The species of the North West 'coast of North 

 America is sufficiently described and figured by Capt. Scammon to furnish 

 means of comparison with most these species. It diff"ers from these, and may 

 be called 



BaLTENOPTERA VELIFERA Cope. 



The Finner Whale of the Oregon coasts. 



This species differs from all that have been described in that . respect, in the 

 color of the baleen ; from the B. a r c t i c a of the Japanese Seas, the colora- 

 tion of the body separates it ; in the latter the sides are spotted- black and 

 white, in the present shaded from the brown of the upper to the white of the 

 lower surfaces. The large size of the dorsal fin and its anterior position are 

 marked characters ; the northern species, with larger fin, is still more diff'er- 

 ent from the B. arctica, tlie only one with wiiich it would be probably 

 identical. 



The more southern form, with very small fin, may be another species — pos- 

 sibly a Sibbaldius. The B. ve li f e ra cannot unfortunately be compared with 

 the B. swinhoei and B. patachonica, as no similar parts are figured or 

 described. 



The baleen, says Capt. Scamraon, is of a light lead color, streaked with 

 black, and its surface is marked with transverse roughening. In the B. phy- 

 salus the whalebone is, according to Gray, slate-colored on the inner side, 

 white streaked; on the outer side nearly black and with still darker streaks. 

 In the B. r s t r a t a it is nearly all white, with some black at the base. 



SIBBALDIUS Gray. 



Species of tjiis genus have been discovered in arctic, antarctic and tropical 

 seas. S. b r e a 1 i s [Flmverius Lilljeborg), the most gigantic of the finners, 

 occurs in the northern Atlantic and Polar Seas, but appears to be rather rare. 

 S. 1 a t i c e p s, a much smaller species, has, so far as known, a high arctic 

 range, while S. tu b e ro s u s, sp. nov., has been found on the eastern North 

 American coast. S. s ch 1 e ge 1 i i is known to occur on the coast of Java. 

 A doubtful species has been named S. antarcticus. The species may be 

 divided into three groups, thus : I, the dorsal tin of ordinary form, two-thirds 



, [April, 



