AGAPIIELID^. 47 



Family 2, AGAPHELID^. Scrag Whales. 



Head moderate ; body elongate ; hinder part of the back keeled 

 and notched. Cervical vertebrae free. Pectoral fin lanceolate. 

 Fingers 4. Throat without plaits. No dorsal fin. Eibs single- 

 headed. 



Mr. Cope *' mentioned that he had an opportunity of examining a 

 portion of a specimen of the Scrag Whale of Dudley, Balcena gihhosa 

 of Erxleben, and ascertained that it represented a genus not previ- 

 ously known. It was a Fin-back Whale ; but without dorsal fin or 

 throat-folds, resembling superficially the genus Balcena. The haleen 

 short and curved. The genus was called Agaj)helusJ' 



1. AGAPHELUS. 



Cervical vertebrae free. Fingers 4. Throat without plaits. No 

 dorsal fin. Ribs single-headed. Scapula with acromion (Cope, 

 Proc. Soc. N. Sc. Phil. 1869, p. 16). 



Agaphelus, Cope, Proc. Soc. N. Sc. Phil. 1868, pp. 159, 225 j Gray, 

 Ann. ^ Mag. N. H. 1870, vi. p. 200. 



" Fingers four, elongate. Cervical vertebrae ? Lumbar 



and anterior caudal vertebrae longer than their greatest diameter. 

 Dorsal fin wanting. Gular and pectoral region without folds. Sca- 

 pula with well- developed acromion and coracoid. Baleen narrow, 

 short, curved. 



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

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

 band, or length of the base of each plate, four inches. It is of a 

 creamy white ; the fringe very coarse, white, and resembling hogs' 

 bristles. 



" The ear-bone is much compressed, with an inferior carina, 

 towards which the lip of dense bone is suddenly decurved. The 

 longitudinal opening is much contracted, especially anteriorly, where 

 the bone is pinched up into a keel; and there is no abrupt concavity 

 of the inner lip at that point. External surface not very rugose. 

 Total length 3 in. 2-5 lines. 



" The scapula preserved is low and elongate, with well- developed 

 acromion and coracoid process. It is evidently of the type of Balce- 

 noptera and Physcdus ; the ulna and radius relatively less elongate 

 than in Sibhaldius laticeps and horealis, being 1-5 as long as the 

 humerus, thus resembling Physalus. 



" The four fingers, with the second much the longest, form a fin 

 of the type of those genera. 



" The ear-bone is much more compressed than in Physalus anti- 

 quorum or Sibhaldius laticeps. 



" The mandibular ramus is rather massive, moderately curved, and 

 with a more elevated coronoid process than in any Whale that I have 

 seen. 



*' The greatest peculiarity is in the form of the lumbar and 



