THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIO. 277 
Flower (1885) prefaces his list of specimens of MJegaptera 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 Megaptera 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.) 
BALHNOPTERA VELIFERA Cope. 1869. 
Cope had no specimens on which to base this species, and named it from 
Scammon’s description and sketches. (See p. 90.) The description is probably 
that given by Scammon 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 fin 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 
transverse roughening, 
The species is divided into two forms, a northern one with a large dorsal fin, 
and a southern one 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 quite 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. 
“Tts side fins and flukes are in like proportion to the body as in the California 
Gray. Its throat and breast are marked 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 board the ‘Sarah Warren’ in relation 
to color of belly and the creases on throat and breast. The under side of the fins 
was white also.” 
Again he remarks : 
