THE WHAiEBOITE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 277 



Flower (1885) prefaces his list of specimens of Megaptera in the British 

 Museum, which include a skull and other bones from California, with the following 

 remark: "It is uncertain whether all the following specimens of Megcq^era should 

 be referred to one species or to several. If more than one, their distinctive charac- 

 ters have not been as yet clearly defined." {46, 5.) 



Bal^noptera velifera Cope. 1869. 



Cope had no specimens on which to base this species, and named it from 

 Scammou's description and sketches. (See p. 90.) The description is probably 

 that given by Scammou in the article to which Cope's systematic synopsis forms 

 the introduction {83, 52-53, figs. 9-10). From this Cope extracted the following 

 characters {83, 16): 



Color "shaded from the brown of the upper to the white of the lower 

 surfaces." 



Dorsal tin large ; situated " at the commencement of the third fourth of the 

 length from the head." 



Baleen light lead-color, streaked with black, and its surface marked with 

 transvei'se roughening. 



The species is divided into two forms, a northern one with a large dorsal fin, 

 and a southei'n cue with a "very small fin." These forms, however, are not 

 named. 



Scammon's description is as follows : 



" One picked up by Capt. Poole, of the bark ' Sarah Warren,' of San Francisco 

 affords us the following memoranda : Length sixty-five feet. Thickness of blubber 

 seven to nine inches. Yield of oil seventy-five barrels. Color of blubber a clear 

 white. Top of head tjuite as flat and straight as that of the Humpback. Baleen, 

 the longest two feet four inches, greatest width thirteen inches, its color a light lead 

 streaked with black, and its surface presents a ridgy appearance crosswise ; length 

 of fringe to bone two to four inches, and in size this may be compared to a cambric 

 needle. 



"Its side fins and flukes are in like proportion to the body as in the California 

 Gray. Its throat and bi-east are mai'ked with deep creases or folds, like the Hump- 

 back. Color of back and sides black or blackish-brown ; belly a milky white. Its 

 back fin is placed nearer to the caudal than the hump on the Humpback, and in 

 shape approaches to a right-angled triangle, but rounded on the forward edge, curved 

 on the opposite one, and the longest side Joins the back in some individuals ; in 

 others the anterior edge is the longest," (83, 52.) 



Later in the same account Scammon states regarding one shot with a bomb- 

 lance : " We got quite a good look at the under side of the whale . . . and 

 our observations agreed with those noted on boai'd the 'Sarah Warren' in I'elation 

 to color of belly and the ci'eases on throat and breast. The under side of the fins 

 was white also." 



Again he i-emarks : 



