286 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
have been “improved” by the lithographers. Scammon’s rough outline figure does 
not help to understand the more elaborate one. While in general it resembles DB. 
musculus, the folds, etc., are laid on in a very indifferent manner, so that exact 
comparisons are out of the question. 
It is to be remarked that Scammon states that the color of the under surfaces 
of the body is “of a yellowish cast, or sulphur color.” The Newfoundland Sulphur- 
bottoms which I examined were not of this color, though certain individuals, both 
of this species and of the common Finback, were more or less tinged with yellowish. 
This tinge was, however, purely an external manifestation, due either to an oily 
exudation from the skin, or to slime in the water or the oily matter in the food. 
The oily coating could be readily rubbed off, when the skin was seen to be gray. 
If the Pacific coast Sulphurbottoms are really furnished with a yellow pigment 
under the epidermis, this constitutes a difference from their Atlantic ally. I can 
not help feeling that the name Sulphurbottom had something to do with the 
assertion that the under surfaces of the body were sulphur color. 
If Scammon really had an opportunity to see a specimen of B. sulfurcus close 
at hand, it is very remarkable that he did not comment on the extraordinary mottled 
coloration, if the species is at all like B. musculus in that regard. We must believe, 
either that he never saw a specimen, or that the species is very differently colored 
from B, musculus, and therefore quite distinct. Considering that the whalebone is 
precisely like that of 5. musculus in color and form, and that Scammon does not 
anywhere state definitely that he examined fresh specimens of the animal, the 
probabilities are in favor of a similarity rather than a diversity of color. 
The whalebone which Prof. Cope mentions as having been received by the 
Smithsonian Institution from Capt. Scammon is not now to be found. There are, 
however, in the National Museum two pieces (Nos. 18984—-5 U. 8. N. M.) labelled 
as having been obtained by Capt. Scammon at Monterey, Cal., in 1878, and 8 pieces 
(No. 72692 U.S. N. M., Eth.) obtajned from the Makah Indians, Neah Bay, Wash- 
ington. These are all very thick and heavy, and entirely black, both blade and 
bristles. Of Capt. Scammon’s specimens one, No. 138984, is 284 in. long; the other, 
No..13985, 274 in. long. The longest of the Neah Bay pieces, No. 72692, is 30 in. 
long. The inner edges are broken and the width at the base in the original state 
cannot be given. There is no appreciable difference between this whalebone and 
that of the Sulphurbottoms taken at Newfoundland. 
Since nothing is known of the osteology of this species and the present material 
is so scant, the questions concerning its identity can not now be satisfactorily 
determined. 
Regarding this species Van Beneden wrote in 1889 (7, 259): “The American 
and English whalers often speak of a Lalenoptera under the name of Sulphurbottom. 
We have many reasons to believe that this Sulphurbottom is also a synonym 
of B. Sibbaldit [= B. musculus L.|. That which confirms us in this identification 
is the examination which we have had occasion to make at Vienna, of some baleen 
designated by this name by Capt. Charles Scammon and which Prof. Steindachner 
had himself brought from San Francisco.” 
