CHAPTER VI. 



THE LITTLE PIKED WHALE, BAL.ENOPTERA ACUTO-ROSTRATA Lacepede. 



Sars's diagnosis of this species is as follows : 



1. Length of full-growu individuals 20 to 30 feet. (Maximum 36 feet — Van 

 Beneden.) 



2. Body less slender than in the other species of the genus, the greatest depth 

 equalling ;^ the leugtli ; behind the navel gradually naiTower; tail with a rather 

 high crest above and below. 



3. Color above and on the sides of the lower jaw gray-black; below white; 

 dark color of the back descending obliquely behind the pectoral fins and occupying 

 the greater part of the tail. 



4. Length of the mouth exceeding i the total length ; upper jaw seen from 

 above, becoming attenuated rapidly from the base, with the extremity acute, pale 

 gray. 



5. Pectoral fins small, scarcely exceeding \ the total length, lanceolate, forming 

 an obtuse angle posteriorly at about the middle of the length; the middle of the 

 external surface with a broad transverse band of pine white, sharply defined 

 proximally, less so distally ; base and tip black. 



6. Dorsal fin quite high, with the tip strongly curved backward, like a horn. 

 It lies quite far forward with the anterior insertion at the commencement of the 

 last third of the total length, and in advance of a vertical line drawn through the 

 anus. 



7. Flukes below whitish, with iri-egular dark markings. 



8. Baleen entirely yellowish-white (75, 15). 



Plate 1 accompanying Sars's memoir represents a female 14^ ft. long, captured 

 near Christiania, Norway, September, 1878. The original drawing was by Sars. 

 It is an admirable figure in every respect, and coiTespouds exactly with the fore- 

 going diagnosis. 



Dr. Collett added the following characters in the diagnosis of the species given 

 by him in 1 886 : " Number of plates [of baleen] about 325 ; their greatest length 

 about 200 mm., not including the bristles." " Inner side [of the flippers] quite 

 white" {21, 264). Bocourt's figure of the Bretague specimen {A9, pi. 3), which is 

 in most respects very satisfactory, shows a broader white band on the under surface 

 of the pectoral than on the uppei' surface, with the margins nearly as well defined. 



As I am acquainted with but three specimens from the east coast of the 

 United States which may be supposed to represent B. acuto-rodrata, I am unable 

 to speak with any great degree of confidence regarding the matter of identity in 

 this case. The three specimens referred to are as follows : 



192 



