Ilammalia. 243 



BTid broader tlian upper-jaw, and with three or four sub- 

 globular elevations on each side near tip ; back slightly arched, 

 with a carinated and slightly elevated hunch towards the tail, 

 highest about its middle, from whence it slants otF to each"^ 

 extremity; hinder part of body carinated both above and be- 

 low ; throat and breast strongly marked with elevated, longi- 

 tudinal rugae, with deep corresponding furrows between them ; 

 eyes a little above the angle of the mouth, and the openings of 

 spiracles rather in front of them ; laminae of whalebone 300 on 

 each side, of a bluish colour, and margined on their inner edges 

 by stiff horny bristles. Back and sides black ; belly dull white 

 with some irregular black spots. Pectoral fins narrow, and 

 both their anterior and posterior edges irregularly notched, 

 upper surfaces black, under surfaces pure while ; hinder edge 

 of tail fin nearly square with a slight notch at its middle op- 

 posite the back bone, on each side of which it is slightly convex, 

 towards points a little concave. Length from tip of lower-jaw 

 to hinder margin of tail fin thirty-four feet and a half ; from 

 tip of lower-jaw to angle of mouth seven feet and a half; from 

 point of upper-jaw to angle of mouth six feet ; from angle of 

 mouth to base of pectoral fins three feet. Length of pectoral 

 fins nine feet, width of the same near base two feet, near point 

 one foot ; width of tail from tip to tip nine feet ; length of 

 whalebone near angles of mouth one foot. 



Inhaltits the seas about the Cape of Good Hope. 



Hump-back of the Whale Fishers. 



Obs. The only specimen of this species which I have had an opportu« 

 nity of examining, had lost the skin of the hinder portion of the back 

 .before I saw it, so that I am unable to describe the hunch from my own . 

 observation. Those viho have beon in the habit of seeing and killing 

 this species all agree as to the character of the hunch, and from what I 

 have myself observed at a distance through a telescope, I should feel 

 inclined to regard their description as correct. Tbey unite in asserting 

 that there is nothing nf the appearance of a regular fin, and all that I 

 could ever distinguish from watching the animal when in motion and 

 partly above the surface of the water, was a sort of semilunar elevation 

 iowards the tail and somewhat above the line of the back. 



