16 



They visit the coast periodically. The head is often co- 

 vered with barnacles. 



This species is only described from a model, made in 

 porcelain clay by a Japanese, under the insjiection of a 

 ,Ta]>anese whaler and M. Sicbold ; but no remains of the 

 animal were brought to Europe. The figures in the 'Fau- 

 na Japonica' are from this model. 



This is probably B. Japonica, LacepMe, Mem. Mus. iv. 

 473, from a Japanese drawing, which is white below. 

 Lacepede also notices another Japanese drawing, in the 

 same place, under the name oi B. lunnlala. 



Lesson (Tab. Reg. Anim. 202) gives the name of " B. 

 antarctica to the Right or Black Whale of the whalers of 

 the antarctic seas." 



The New Zealand Whale. Balaena antarctica. 

 Plate 1. 



Balsena antarctica, Gray, Dieff. New Zealand, t. 1. 



I described this species from a very accurate drawing of 

 a specimen taken in Jackson Bay : it is very like Tem- 

 minck's figure of B. australis, but there is a roundish pro- 

 minence on the front of the under jaw similar to, as well 

 as the one on the nose, figured in that species; the pecto- 

 ral fin is, as in that species, about f from the chin. 



Chamisso figures a species of these animals as Balaena 

 Kuliomoch, found in the Aleutian seas, from a wooden 

 model made by the Aleutians ; see N. Act. Nat. Cur. t. 17, 

 f. 1. It is noticed as B. Culammak by Pallas, Zool. Ross. 

 Asiat. i. 288. 



** Back knobbed. 



The Scrag Whale. Balaena gibbosa. 



Balaena gibbosa, Brisson. 



Besides these Dudley (Phil. Trans, xxxiii 259) described 

 "a Scrag Whale," which he says "is near akin to the Fin- 

 back, but instead of a fin upon its back, the ridge of the 

 after part of its back is scragged, with half-a-dozen knobs 

 or knuckles. He is nearest the Right IVliale in figure and 

 quantity of oil. His bone (whalebone) is white, but wont 

 split." 



Cuvier thought the Scrag Whale [B. gibbosa) was only a 

 Rorqual (Oss. Foss. v. 267) which had been mutilated, but 

 1 susjject, from Dudley's account of the form, that it must 

 be a Bahena, probably well known formerly. 



Bonnaterre, and all succeeding authors, have referred to 

 this genus, the Hump-backed Whale of Dudley, not under- 

 standing his description of the belly " being reeved," that 

 is, plaited ; they call it B. nodosa. 



2. Megapteea. Hump-b.\cked Whales. 



Balaenoptera, part, Lacep. B. nodosa, Bonat. 



Head broad, moderate, flattened. Throat and chest with 

 deep longitudinal folds. Dorsal fins low or tuberous, ra- 

 ther behind the middle of the body. The pectoral very 

 large, -j to t the entire length of the animal, as long as the 

 head, consisting of only four fingers. The eyes rather 

 above the angle of the mouth. The navel is rather 

 before the front edge, the male organs under the back 



edge of the dorsal, and the vent rather nearer the tail, 

 and the female organs are rather behind the back edge 

 of the dorsal, with the vent at its hinder end. Skull, 

 nose narrow, broad behind, and contracted in front. 

 Temporal bone broad. Inlerorbital space wide. Lower 

 jaw much arched. — Ckv. Oss. Foss. v. t. 26,/. 1, 3. 



These Whales are easily known from the Finners {Ba- 

 Icenoplera), in being shorter and more robust, the skull 

 nearly -^ the entire length, the head wider between the 

 eyes, the mouth larger, the lip warty, and the nose large 

 and rounded ; the plaits of the belly and throat are broad ; 

 the dorsal is more forward, the pectoral larger and narrow, 

 from -J to T tlie length of the body, and the tail is wider, 

 and the lolaes generally more pointed. 



The skull of this genus is intermediate in form between 

 that of Bal<ena and Bahenopfera. 



This kind of Whale was noticed by Dudley (Phil. Trans, 

 xxxiii. 258). He says, "the Bunch or Hump-backed 

 Whale has a bunch standing in the place where the fin 

 does in the Fin-back; this bunch is as big as a man's head 

 and a foot high, shaped like a plug pointing backwards. 

 The bone (whalebone) is not worth much, tho' somewhat 

 better than the Fin-back. His fin (pectoral) is sometimes 

 18 feet long, and very white. Both Fin-backs and Hump- 

 backs are shaped in reeves (folds) longitudinally from head 

 to tail, on their belly and sides, as far as their fins, which 

 are about halfway up the sides." 



This description is the origin of Bahena nodosa of Bon- 

 naterre and other authors. The French authors have evi- 

 dently not understood the word " reeves," and have there- 

 fore arranged these with the smooth-bellied finless whales, 

 and Bonnaterre translates the position of the fins on the 

 sides into " presque au milieu du corps." Dudley, when 

 speaking of the Spermaceti Whale, says " he has a bunch 

 on his back like a Hump-back," which explains what he 

 means by a bunch. 



These Hump-backs are well known to the whalers, for 

 Beale says, " The Hump-back Whale possesses, like the 

 Greenland Whale, the baleen, and spouts from the top of 

 the head, yet has a hump not very dissimilar to that of the 

 Sperm Whale." 



Schlegel considers Bahena lonyimana, the Rorqual du 

 Cap, and the drawing he received from Japan, as all be- 

 longing to a single species, though he owns there are dif- 

 ferences between them ; but then it is his custom to regard 

 all the species which they have not in the Leyden Museum 

 as the same as those they have, which has rendered his 

 works on the geogra))hical distribution of tortoises, snakes 

 and other animals, i'ar less valuable than they would be if 

 it was not for this theory. 



Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. 3C7) thinks that the Hump-back 

 Whale was probably only a Whale of another kind whose 

 fins had been injured, not recognizing in the Cape Ror- 

 qual the genus of Whale here noticed. 



Olafsen speaks of a Whale under the name of Hnufu- 

 bakr (French translation, iii. 22), which is said to have a 

 smooth belly, and a horn instead of a fin on the back ; but 

 the account of the animals in this work is evidently only a 

 compilation, and this appears like an incorrect translation 

 of Dudley. 



