131 



state, lies in the presence or absence of the longitudinal folds of the 

 skin along the throat and belly, and this distinction having been founded 

 upon a palpable error in respect to the first-named animal, utterly fails 

 to prove their non-identity. As silence is generally understood to give 

 consent, so we may conclude that the quality of the baleen, and the 

 general habits of these cetaceans are the same ; for no allusion is made 

 to either by this writer, so well acquainted with these whales, further 

 than that the fisheries vary about a week in time at Bahia and Cara- 

 vellas, a matter of but little consequence, except to show that the dates 

 of the periodic migration to the Brazils coincide nicely with the time 

 of the whaling season at Bermuda, viz., " from March to end of May, 

 when they leave." (Gray.) 



Family XV. AGAPHELIDJS. 1 



SCRAG WHALES. 



Baleen narrow, short, and curved ; dorsal fin, none ; pectoral fin 

 lanceolate, four-fingered ; head less than one-fourth of the entire length 

 of body; throat and chest smooth, not plaited; cervical vertebrae, free ; 

 body slender, elongate. 



Ao-APHELUS 1 GiBBOSirs, 2 Erxleben. The Scrag Whale. 



Synonyms Balcena, giblosa, Erxl. Gray, S. & W., p. 90. 



AgapJielus gibbosus, Cope. Gray, Suppl. S. & W., p. 48. 

 Scrag Whale. Dudley. 



" The baleen is peculiar ; throughout the length of the maxillary 

 bone it nowhere exceeded 1 foot in length, and the width of the band, 

 or length of the base of each plate, 4 inches. It is of a creamy white ; 

 the fringe very coarse, white, and resembling hog's bristles." (Cope.) 



" Instead of a fin upon its back, the ridge of the after-part of its 

 back is scragged with half-a-dozen knobs or knuckles. His bone 

 (whalebone) is white and won't split." (Dudley.) 



Length, about 50 feet. 



Inhab. North Atlantic. 



AGAPHELUS GLAFCUS, Cope. Californian Grey Whale. 



Synonyms AgapJielus glaucus, Cope. 



EJiacJiianectes glaucus, Cope. Gray, Suppl., p. 48. 



" 145 laminae of baleen on each side, the longest 18 inches long ; 

 colour, bright yellow." (Cope.) 

 Inhab. : California. 



1 aya, greatly, and a^eA-rjs, simple j i.e., without fpldp on the throat and without a 

 dorsal fin. 



2 From pibbus, a hunch or swelling on the back, 



