92 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
exhibited in the popular museum at Niagara Falls, formerly on the Canadian side, 
but now located on the American side. Cope examined it at some time prior to 
1865, and in that year described it as representing a new species. He recognized 
that it belonged to the genus Megaptera, but considered that it differed in several 
important characters from J. dongimana (Rudolphi). 
The original description, which is too long to quote in full in this place, applies 
well, except in a few particulars, to a skeleton 33 ft. 10 in. long, in the National 
Museum (No, 21492) from Cape Cod, Mass., which, as will be shown later, agrees 
closely with European specimens of JZ. longimana. One of the differences 
noted in the description is that in the type of JZ. osphyia the superior transverse 
processes of the cervical vertebre increase in length from the 3d to the 5th, while 
in skeleton No. 21492, they rather decrease than increase. An examination of the 
type shows this distinction to be of little importance, as the processes are shorter 
posteriorly on one side and longer on the other.’ Cope wrote at a time when 
Gray’s opinion that the differences in the length and shape of the processes of 
the cervical vertebra furnished reliable specific characters was generally accepted. 
Later researches have shown that these processes vary greatly in the same species. 
In the description of the type of JZ. osphyra well-developed inferior transverse 
processes are said to occur on the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th cervicals; “that of the 
fifth, three-fifths the diameter of the centrum.” An examination of the type bears 
out this statement. In skeleton No. 21492 there are inferior transverse processes 
on the right side of the 3d, 4th, and 5th cervicals, but none on the 6th; and that on 
the 5th is not more than 4 the diameter of the centrum in length. That this differ- 
ence is unimportant, however, is shown by the fact that there are no inferior 
processes whatever on the eft side of the last five cervicals (8d to 7th) in this 
same skeleton. 
A most extraordinary statement in the description of the type of JZ. osphyia is 
as follows: “The neural arches and spines are remarkably elevated on the dorsal 
and lumbar regions, somewhat as in the Catodontid ; ¢. g., in the 33d vertebra, 
the vertical diameter of the centrum is 9.75 inches, and the height of the arch and 
spine, 17.87 inches, or nearly double.” Again, Cope remarks: “ A most striking 
peculiarity of the species is the great elevation of the arches and spinous processes 
of the dorsal, and especially the lumbar vertebrz, reminding one of the structure in 
the toothed whales. The outline of the skeleton is thus somewhat humped behind, 
presenting a contrast to that represented by Rudolphi in the type specimen of the 
longimana, where the elevation of the arches and spines does not exceed the diameter 
of the centrum, on the lumbar region at least.” 
As I remarked in 1884 (89, 642), after having seen the type, these statements 
appear to have been due to a misapprehension. In the type the vertical diameter 
1 The figures for the superior transverse processes in the type are as follows (see p. 96): 
Right. er. 
3d cervical (broken) (broken) 
4th cervical 7 in. 72 in. 
5th cervical 7% in. 7 in. 
