222 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



lumbar and caudal vertebrae, with the baleen from one side of the maxilla. 

 These portions, with a few prominent points dependent on the observations of 

 Wm. A. Crane, serve to indicate a species not only new to our fauna, but new 

 to modern science. The evidence of my informant, as that of an old and ex- 

 perienced coaster and waterman, and one familiar with the appearance of our 

 cetaceans, confirmed by his sons and by the specimens preserved, so far as. 

 they went, I consider reliable. That the species should have remained unde- 

 scribed until the present time will not appear surprising to those who read 

 carefully Gray's recently issued " Catalogue of Cetaceans," or Eschricht and 

 Reinhardt " Ora Nordhvalen," Copenhagen, 1861. 



The scapula preserved is low and elongate, with well-developed acromion 

 and coracoid process. It is evidently of the type of Balaenoptera and PhysaluS"; 

 the ulna and radius relatively less elongate than in Sibbaldius laticeps 

 and b o r e al i s , being 1-5 as long as the humerus, thus resembling Physalus. 

 The four fingers, with the second much the longest, form a fin of the type of 

 these genera. The ear-bone is much more compressed than in Physalus an- 

 t i q u o r u m or Sibbaldius laticeps. The mandibular ramus is rather 

 massive, moderately curved, and with a more elevated coronoid process than in 

 any whale that I have seen. The greatest peculiarity is in the form of the lum- 

 bar and anterior caudal vertebrae ; they are of a much more elongate form than 

 any I have seen or found figured, excepting those of the BaUenoptera r o s - 

 trata (as figured by Gaimard in Voyage de la Recherche), which, however, 

 are relatively shorter. Those of the present species are of greater length than 

 transverse diameter, the lumbars most elongate ; all furnished witb an acute 

 hypapophysial keel and concave sides, and entirely transverse diapophyses. 

 This peculiarity is consistent with the account of my informant, who stated the 

 animal to have been of an unusually elongate and slender form. When it came 

 ashore it had perhaps been dead ten days ; the flukes and muscular region as 

 far as the third caudal vertebra had been devoured, probably by sharks and 

 killers, and the abdominal region much lacerated ; the edge of a fin preserved 

 was slit by the teeth of some carnivorous enemy. The measurement from the 

 end of the muzzle to the end of the third caudal was 35 feet, which may be re- 

 duced to 33 feet axial. Up to this point the dorSal line was, according to my 

 informant, entirely smooth, without knob or fin, or scar of one ; hence I sup- 

 pose the fin (if present) to have been situated as in Sibbaldius, &c., at the pos- 

 terior fourth of the length, and not as in Balaenoptera, on the posterior third. 

 It may then be safely assumed, bearing in mind the form of the vertebrc-e, that 

 ten feet of the whale's length had been removed, making in all 43 feet. That the 

 species attains over 50 feet is probable, as the present individual was quite young, 

 the epiphyses separating from the vertebr;e with the greatest ease. The slender 

 form of the animal is corroborated by the slenderness and slight curvature of 

 the ribs, one attached beneath the scapula, probably the second, being nar- 

 rower than the corresponding ones in Sibbaldius. I therefore think it most 

 probable that in this form the anterior ribs are single-headed. 



The baleen is peculiar; throughout the length of the maxillary bone it no- 

 where exceeded one foot in length, and the width of the band, or length of the 

 base of each plate, four inches. It is of a creamy-white ; the fringe very coarse, 

 white, and resembling hogs' bristles. 



The proportions in most respects present a contrast to those of Physalus 

 species, and Sibbaldius species. While the cranium and fin of the Physalus 

 antiquorura are of about equal length, the latter is four-sevenths the for- 

 mer in the present species. In the Physalus the cranium enters the length 4-7 

 times ; in Sibbaldius laticeps 4 06, and in the present species 6-6 times ; in 

 Balaenoptera rostrata 4 5 times. 



In general features this Cetacean seems to be an intermediate form of the 

 toothless whales ; and an additional feature, which depends on the observation 

 of my friend W. Crane, and in which I cannot conceive it possible that he 

 should be mistaken, indicates still more conclusively that it pertains to a genus 



[Sept. 



