226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



ters not found in the A. gl a u cus Dr. Gray has already (Catal. Brit. Mus.) 

 indicated that this, if reliable, indicates a genus unknown to him. 



The Agaphelus glaucus is the gray whale of the coasts of California. 

 Two specimens have been examined by my friend, Wm. H. Dall, of the Scien- 

 tific staff of the U. S. Russian American Telegraph Expedition, one of them 

 near Monterey, and descriptions as complete as the state of the specimens would 

 allow, were made. These, which were sent to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, and placed in my hands by Prof. Baird, are quite sufficient to indicate a 

 whale of a species hitherto unnoticed, and to render certain its futuKe identifi- 

 cation. 



Specimen No. 1, a skeleton nearly complete. 



Ft. 



Length of cranium 10 



Of dorsal vertebrte , 12 



Lumbar and caudal (except of the fluke) 26 



? Vertebrae of fluke ? 3 



Total 51 



Dorsal vertebrfe and ribs, thirteen ; lumbar and caudal (those in the fluke 

 cut off with it), 28. Scapula, breadth and height not very different, with a 

 short, hroad coracoid process; its heaid opposite first rib. Apparently only 

 four fingers, of which the second is the longest. 145 laminae of baleen on 

 each side, the longest eighteen inches long; color light yellow. 



Specimen No. 2, killed by the " killers," (orca) ; skeleton still concealed by 

 mass of muscle, etc. 



External measurements. 



Ft. 



Flukes to anus 14 J 



Anus to sulcus penis 2 



Length of sulcus IJ 



Latter to plane of flippers 15 



Plane of flippers to end of mandible 15 



Total 48 



The lower jaw is four inches longer than the upper ; the blow-holes are 

 entirely concealed by four dermal plicae, which accounts for the small misty 

 spout peculiar to the species. 



Ft. In, 



Length of flipperflnd shoulder 6 



" mouth 10 



" exterior canthus of mouth 1 6 



" from chin to eye 10 4 



" from eye to margin of canthus .t. 6 



Width of caudal flukes 8 9 



Width of mouth at canthus 4 



From chin to blow-holes 4 9 



Longest baleen 14 



Head of humerus opposite third rib ; anterior angle of scapula just anterior 

 to .first rib. On the vertebral line, for fourteen feet from the caudal flukes, is 

 a series of 18 ridges, like the teeth of a saw, which are altogether dermalin 

 their character. Blubber 4 — 8 inches thick, thickest near the jaws and on the 

 back near the tail ; yield of oil 35 bbls. Epidermis 1 inch thick, carium -75, 

 with numerous pores. Blow-holes 2 — 4 inches apart. On each side of sulcus 

 penis a mammary sulcus a few inches shorter. 



Color above and below, black, with a gray bloom like a plum. This dis- 

 tinguishes this species from the known Bala^nae of the Pacific, which are more 

 or less white on the belly and fin. 



[Sept. 



