276 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



There are two emarginations between the tubercle which marks the distal end of 

 the radius and that which marks the ends of digit 2, showing that there are three 

 phalanges in this digit as there are in M. longimana. Beyond the second digit 

 there are at least five emargiuations, as in the Atlantic species. 



The second California photograph shows the upper side of the left pectoral of 

 a Humpback and the flukes. The pectoral is nearly all black above, with irregular 

 streaks of white distally and a white anterior border. There are two emarginations 

 between the end of the radius and the end of digit 2, as in the last photograph and 

 in M. nodosa, and about six emarginations beyond, as in that species. The flukes 

 appear more or less white below. 



The first California photograph also shows the peculiar outline of the inferior 

 surface of the caudal peduncle characteristic of M. nodosa. 



A skeleton from Pacific County, Washington, was exhibited in the World's 

 Columbian Exposition in 1893. This specimen, according to a label attached to it, 

 stranded at Long Beach, Pacific County, Washington, July 9, 1892. The length 

 was 47-^- feet and the girth 48 feet. The skeleton had the following vertebral for- 

 mula : C. 7, D. 14, L. 11, Ca. 20 52. This same formula occurs in many specimens 

 of M. nodosa, except that the caudals are usually 21. Seven chevron bones were 

 present, and three more were apparently wanting to complete the series. The axis 

 presented a complete ring on the right side, formed by the union of the diapophyses. 

 The ring on the left side was nearly complete. The ribs were rounded on the outer 

 edge distally and thin and sharp on the inner edge. The centra of the sixth and 

 seventh dorsals were malformed and anchylosed together inferiorly. 



There are in the National Museum several pieces of whalebone labelled as 

 having been collected by Capt. Scammon on the Pacific coast. Two of these 

 (No. 9791) were from a Humpback taken on the coast of California, November, 

 1869. Their length, without the bristles, is 18 in., and the width at the base, 

 5^ in. The longest bristles measure 7f in. The blades are dull black, and the bristles 

 also blackish at the base, changing to a dull faded brown toward the tip. Nos. 

 12263 and 12264 were obtained by Capt. Scammon at San Luis Obispo, California. 

 These pieces are larger and thinner than the preceding and have a dull whitish 

 surface with a metallic iridescence. I think there is no doubt they have been 

 altered in color by immersion in poisonous fluid to destroy vermin. The larger 

 plate, without the bristles, is 26 in. long, and 10 in. wide at the base. 



Gray, in 1866, gave the name Megaptera kuriza to the Humpback included 

 by Temminck in the "Fauna Japouica" under the name of Balcena antarctica 

 (53, 131). This was based on a Japanese drawing, and not on a specimen, and 

 therefore has no validity as a species. The drawing is inaccurate in many par- 

 ticulars, but undoubtedly represents a Megaptera. So far as specific characters are 

 concerned, it is not worthy of consideration. The matter is chiefly interesting as 

 showing the occurrence of Megaptera on the coast of Japan. Of this Gervais, 

 Mobius, and others have since given confirmation. 



Those authors who, like Van Beneden, regard all the Humpbacks as belong- 

 ing to one species, naturally assign this whale to Megaptera longimana, or nodosa. 



