THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 83 



If the bones had ever been got together and sent to Philadelphia, it would 

 seem very probable that Dr. Taliaferro would have mentioned the fact. On the 

 other hand, it is extremely difficult to understand how Professor Cope could give the 

 detailed measurements and description of the skeleton, as published by him in 1866, 

 unless he had had access to the specimen. They could, of course, have been fur- 

 nished him by Dr. Taliaferro, but their character is such as to render this very 

 improbable. In 1869 Professor Cope compared this whale with his /S. tectirostris 

 by external characters only, which characters he stated in 1866 were drawn up and 

 furnished him by Dr. Taliaferro. He then remarked that as the specimen had not 

 reached the Philadelphia museum, further comparison could not be made at that 

 time (1869). It is certainly remarkable that Cope does not refer here to his detailed 

 measurements and description of the skeleton, published in 1866. He could not 

 have forgotten their publication, and one is, therefore, led to believe that there was 

 something about them that barred them out. The only supposition which seems 

 reasonable is that they were not really from the Mobjack Bay whale, but from some 

 other specimen. 



Considering the uncertainty regarding the skeleton, it may be best for the 

 present purposes to rely entirely on the statements as to the external characters in 

 our endeavor to ascertain the identity of 8. tuberosm. Dr. Taliaferro's notes on the 

 coloration, etc., published by Cope in 1866 (23, 8), furnish the following characters 

 and measurements : Head acute. Pectoral ridges many and capacious. Dorsal fin 

 represented by " a conical mass covered with horny integument, without any mem- 

 branous appendage, situated well posteriorly." Body near tail very slender. 



Length from end of muzzle over convexity of back 43 ft. 9 in. 



Length from end of muzzle to axilla (external measurement) 15 



Breadth of head across inferior margin of jaws 8 



Length of pectoral 4 



Greatest breadth of do i 



Breadth of flukes 10 



Color "jet black above, white on the belly; sides beautifully marbled by the 

 combination of the two colors." 



"There were 360 laminae of baleen, the longest about 18 to 20 inches." 



In Dr. Taliaferro's story, as narrated by " Reynard" in the American Field va. 

 1889, the color is thus referred to : 



" For a half second that mighty fish, with back arched and immense fins quiver- 

 ing straight out from its side, was hung in mid-air not fifteen feet from me. I 

 caught sight of him on the gleaming white of his side, just under his flipper, and 

 fired. . . . 



" As I said before, his immense flippers were quivering straight out from him, 

 and there was a line of demarkation down his side where the gleaming white of his 

 belly joined his marbled, grayish black back. 



" When I thought he ought to be aground, the first thing I saw was his white 

 belly turned up." 



