336 MAMMALIA : CETE. — LI. 



most Taluable of the whales. L. $ 80 feet ; 9 much smaller. 

 {J'^u) (^fiuKpos, long ; K((f)a\T], head.) 



Family CXIV. BAL^NID^. (The True Whales.) 



Teeth disappearing before birth, their place taken in the upper 

 jaw by an array of parallel plates with fringed edges, known as 

 baleen or whalebone. Eye very small, placed close to angle of 

 mouth. Spiracles separate, comparatively simple in structure ; 

 lower jaw very large and thick, its edge convex upward. Genera 

 4 or 5 ; species about 20 ; huge creatures, mostly of the colder seas, 

 feeding chiefly on small animals and sought by man for the sake of 

 the oil (blubber) and the whalebone. 



a. Belly with conspicuous lonf^itudinal furrows; pectorals shorter than head. 



b. Dorsal (in well developed, but small Bal.«noiteka, 585. 



bb. Dorsal fin obsolete; back with a fleshy hump; belly with furrows; 



pectoral as long as liead Megatteka, 586. 



aa. Belly witliout furrows; dorsal fin obsolete; whalebone very long and 

 blackish Bal.e.na, 587. 



585. BAL^ffiNOPTERA Lacdpfede. (Baloena, whale ; Trrtpop, 



fin.) 



a. Dorsal fin posterior. (Fin-back whales.) (Physnlus GrRy.) 



1112. B. physalus (L.). Common Rorqual. Finner. Fin- 

 back. Razor-back. Grayish slate above, paler below; whalebone 

 slate-color varied with brownish; L. 70 feet. N. Atl., the com- 

 monest finback whale feeding on herring. (Eu-) (P. anti- 

 quorum Gray; Silihahlius tectiroslris Cope.) 



1113. B. muBculus (L.)- Blue Whale. Dark bluish gray, 

 with small whitish spots on breast ; flippers very long, 7 in body ; 

 dorsal very small, far back; whalebone black. L. 80 to 85 feet. 

 One of the largest of animals, second only to its relative, Balanop- 

 tera xiilfurea Co])e, the Sulphur Bottom Whale of the Pacific, 

 which reaches 100 feet. N. Atl., probably off our coasts. {Eti.) 

 (fi. sibbnUli (Jray.) (Musculus, old name of some whale.) 



aa. Dorsal submedian. {Balcenoptera.) 



1114. B. borealis (Lesson). RunoLPHi's Rorqual. Blue-black 

 with oblong i)ale spots; flippers small, 11 in body; whalebone dark. 

 L. 50 feet. N. Atl., occasional off our coasts, (/sm) (? Sihbaldius 

 tuheroxus Cope.) 



1115. B. acutorostrata Lacep^de. Little Piked Whale; 

 Scrao Whale, (irayish black, white below; flippers with a 

 broail while band ; whalebone pale. L. .30 feet. N. Atl., occa- 

 eional off our ooaats. {Eu.) {"i A gaphelus gibboaut Cope.) 



