17 



PoESKOP, or Cape Hump-back. Megaptera Poeskop. 



Rorqual du Cap, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. /. 26, y. 1 — 4 and 19, 

 finm Lalande's specimen. 



Bahcnoptera Poeskop, Desmoulin, Did. Class. H. N. 

 iv. 160, from Lalande's MSS. 



B. Lalandii, Fisclter, Syn. 525, from Cuvier. 



B. Capcnsis, A. Smith, from Cuvier. 



Inliab. Cape of Good Hope, Lalande. Skeleton, Mns. 

 Paris. 



Laland's account was published by Desmoulin, who 

 merely gives the following particulars, except what appears 

 to be common to the genus. He says " it has a bosse on 

 the occiput, and its dorsal is nearly over the pectoral," in 

 the European and Bermudean figures it is over the end of 

 these fins. 



Cuvier's figures of the adult skull differ from Rudolphi's 

 figure of yi/. longimana, in the intermaxillaries being nar- 

 rower and contracted in front of the blowers, and then 

 rather widened again and linear, and the temporal bone is 

 broader and more triangtilar ; which makes me believe it is 

 a distinct species. 



Johnston's Hump-backed Whale. Megaptera longimana. 



Balasna longimana, Biidolphi, Mem. Acad. Berl. 1829, 

 133, t. 12, mas, cop. Brandt and Ratzehurg, t. 15, /". 2. 



Whale, Johnston, Trans. Newcastle N. H. Sac. i. 6, f. 

 1, female on back. 



Black, pectoral fin and beneath white, black varied ; 

 lower lip with 2 series of tubercles ; pectoral nearly 4- the 

 entire length ; dorsal elongate, the front edge over end of 

 pectoral ; throat and belly grooved. 



Female, upper and lower lip with a series of tubercles ; 

 dorsal an obscure protuberance. — Johnston, I. c. t. I. 



Inhab. North Sea, mouth of the Maese, Rudolphi. New- 

 castle, Johnston. 



Dr. Johnston's description chiefly differs from Rudol- 

 phi's in both lips having a row of tubercles, and in the 

 dorsal being said to be a small obscure protuberance ; but 

 the animal laid on its back, sunk in the sand. 



Rudolphi {Berl. Abhand. 1829, t. 1, 4) figures the bones 

 of this species, with enlarged details of the skull. They 

 nearly resemble the skull of the Cape Rorqual of Cuvier 

 in form, but the nasal bones are broad and nearly of the 

 same width from the front of the blow-holes to near the 

 tip, where they gradually taper : the temporal appear more 

 quadrangular. 



Schlegel points out that Rudolphi, in his description of 

 B. longimana, has confounded the figure of Baleine du 

 Cap and Rorqual du Cap, of Cuvier's ' Ossemens Fos- 

 siles,' together ; and that M. F. Cuvier has done the same 

 thing, {Fann. Japan. 21, note). 



Professor Eschrichi, according to M. Schlegel, has found 

 this species not uncommon on the shores of Greenland. — 

 Fauna Japonica, 24. 



Rudolphi, and after him Schlegel, refers B. Boops, O. 

 Fabricius, to this genus, but the description does not bear 

 them out. They must have overlooked the character fur- 

 nished by the position of the sexual organs. 



Schlegel refers the Rorqualus minor of Knox to this 

 species, probably misled by the inaccurate figures of this 



species in Jardine's Nat. Lib. vi t. 6. See note on tliis 

 figure under Balienoptera Physalns. 



Bermuda Hump-back. Megaptera Americana. 

 I have a tracing of a Bermuda Whale, but do not know 

 from whence it was derived, which is said to be common 

 in that island. It is very like the figure of Megaptera 

 longimana, but the dorsal fin is represented as lower, and 

 the tail wider. This is doubtless the Whale described in 

 Phil. Trans, i. 11, where an account is given of the method 

 of taking it. It is described thus : — " Length of adult 88 

 feet ; the pectoral 26 feet (rather less than \ the en- 

 tire length), and the tail 23 feet broad. There are great 

 bends (plaits) underneath from nose to the navel, sharp, 

 like the ridge of a house behind, head pretty bluff, full of 

 bumps on both sides, back black, belly white, and dorsal 

 fin behind." 



The KuziRA. Megaptera antarctica. 



Balajnoptera antarctica. Tern. Faun. Jap. t. 30. 



Rorqual Noueux, Voy. Pol Sud, t. 24:, Jem. not descr. 



Inhab. Japan and the Antarctic Seas. 



Both these figures agree in having the dorsal smaller, 

 and behind the middle of the back, and in having the pec- 

 toral fin rather .shorter, in Temminck's less than i, and in 

 the other about ^ the entire length of the body. The Ja- 

 pan specimen has round warts on the nose and side of the 

 throat, and the belly is plaited. The Antarctic one, on 

 the contrary, has only warts on the upper part of the head, 

 and the throat smooth, but the latter may be occasioned 

 by its being rather more dilated. They grow to 60 feet 

 long. 



The figure in the ' Fauna Japonica ' is from a drawing 

 brought home by M. Siebold, not accompanied by remains. 

 M. Siebold observes that the Japanese distinguish three 

 varieties : — 



1. Sato Kuzira. Black, nose more elongate and rounded, 

 and the pectoral long, the belly and lower face of the pec- 

 toral are .gray, with white rays. 



2. Nagasu Kuzira. Paler, nose more pointed, the belly 

 has 10 plaits. In both, the lower jaw is larger than the 

 upper. 



3. Noso Kuzira. Distinguished from the first because 

 the back and fins are white-spotted. — Faun. Jap. 24. 



Forster, in Cook's Voyage, appears to have met with a 

 species of this genus between Terra del Fuego and Stratten 

 Island. He says, " these huge animals lay on their backs, 

 and with their long pectoral fins beat the surface of the sea, 

 which caused a great noise, equal to the explosion of a 

 swivel." 



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

 copteron to " the Hump-back of the whalers in the high 

 southern latitudes." 



Chamisso figures a species of this genus from the Aleu- 

 tian seas, under the isame of Aliomoch (N. Acta Nat. Cur. 

 xii. 258, t. 18, f. 5), from a wooden model made by the 

 Aleutians : and Pallas (Zool. Ross. Asiat.) calls it Baltsna 

 Allamack. The pectoral fins are long ; they, and the un- 

 derside of the tail are white. 



This genus is also found in the seas of Java, for there is 

 an imperfect skull, brought from that country by Professor 

 Reinwardt, in the Leyden Museum. — F. Japan. 24. 



