92 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN" NORTH ATLANTIC. 



exhibited in the popular museum at Niagara Falls, formerly on the Canadian side, 

 but now located on the American side. Cope examined it at some time prior to 

 1865, and in that year described it as representing a new species. He recognized 

 that it belonged to the genus Megaptera, but considered that it differed in several 

 important characters from M. longimana (Rudolphi). 



The original description, which is too long to quote in full in this place, applies 

 well, except in a few particulars, to a skeleton 33 ft. 10 in. long, in the National 

 Museum (No. 21492) from Cape Cod, Mass., which, as will be shown later, agrees 

 closely with European specimens of M. longimana. One of the differences 

 noted in the description is that in the type of M. ospliyia the superior transverse 

 processes of the cervical vertebrae increase in length from the 3d to the 5th, while 

 in skeleton No. 21492, they rather decrease than increase. An examination of the 

 type shows this distinction to be of little importance, as the processes are shorter 

 posteriorly on one side and longer on the other. 1 Cope wrote at a time when 

 Gray's opinion that the differences in the length and shape of the processes of 

 the cervical vertebrae furnished reliable specific characters was generally accepted. 

 Later researches have shown that these processes vary greatly in the same species. 



In the description of the type of M. osphyia well-developed inferior transverse 

 processes are said to occur on the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th cervicals ; " that of the 

 fifth, three-fifths the diameter of the centrum." An examination of the type bears 

 out this statement. In skeleton No. 21492 there are inferior transverse processes 

 on the right side of the 3d, 4th, and 5th cervicals, but none on the 6th ; and that on 

 the 5th is not more than \ the diameter of the centrum in length. That this differ- 

 ence is unimportant, however, is shown by the fact that there are no inferior 

 processes whatever on the left side of the last five cervicals (3d to 7th) in this 

 same skeleton. 



A most extraordinary statement in the description of the type of M. osphyia is 

 as follows: "The neural arches and spines are remarkably elevated on the dorsal 

 and lumbar regions, somewhat as in the Catodontidaa ; e. g., in the 33d vertebra, 

 the vertical diameter of the centrum is 9.75 inches, and the height of the arch and 

 spine, 17.87 inches, or nearly double." Again, Cope remarks: "A most striking 

 peculiarity of the species is the great elevation of the arches and spinous processes 

 of the dorsal, and especially the lumbar vertebras, reminding one of the structure in 

 the toothed whales. The outline of the skeleton is thus somewhat humped behind, 

 presenting a contrast to that represented by Rudolphi in the type specimen of the 

 longimana, where the elevation of the arches and spines does not exceed the diameter 

 of the centrum, on the lumbar region at least." 



As I remarked in 1884 (89, 642), after having seen the type, these statements 

 appear to have been due to a misapprehension. In the type the vertical diameter 



1 The figures for the superior transverse processes in the type are as follows (see p. 96): 



Right. Left. 



3d cervical (broken) (broken) 



4th cervical 7^ in. 7^ in. 



5th cervical yf in. 7^ in. 



