292 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



VERTEBRAE. 



Of the vertebrae, Beddard remarks (2, 168): "The atlas was missing; the 

 remaining [cervical] vertebrae are quite independent of each other as in the Rorquals ; 

 and they have the wide lateral foramina formed by the transverse processes, which 

 is so conspicuous a feature of those vertebrae in Balcenoptera and Megaptera." 

 Further than this the vertebra have not been described. 



STERNUM AND LIMBS. 



The sternum is described by Beddard as " cross-shaped, but the arms of the 

 cross very short, and the posterior termination almost a fine point." 



According to Ball's notes, the scapula was in " breadth and height not very 

 different, with a short, broad coronoid process, its head opposite first rib. Ap- 

 parently only 4 fingers, of which the second is the longest." 



Van Beneden remarked regarding this species in 1875: "It appears to us 

 demonstrated and confirmed to-day . . . that the Devilfish of the American 

 whalers is allied to the true whales by the absence of folds on the throat and of a 

 dorsal fin, and by the presence of cirripeds and Cyami on the skin ; and that it is 

 allied to the Finbacks by the shortness of the baleen and the shape of the ros- 

 trum." " It is neither a Balcena, a Balcenoptera, nor a Megaptera " (5, 36, 37). 



BALCENOPTERA DAVIDSONI Scammon. 



A nominal species which requires comparison with B. acuto-rostrata is the B. 

 davidsoni of Scammon, described in 1872 (81). Scammon described this species 

 again and figured it in his Marine Mammals (82, 49-51), and Mr. W. H. Ball 

 noted it in the appendix to this work, and gave measurements of a skull in the 

 museum of the California Academy of Sciences. Scammon's revised description is 

 substantially the same as the original one. A comparison of this description with 

 Sars's diagnosis and figure of B. acuto-rostrata indicates a close similarity. 



Scammon states, however, that in his species the white marking of the 

 pectoral is near the base. This is hardly true of B. acuto-rostrata, in which it 

 may be said to be near the middle. Scammon's figure corresponds with his descrip- 

 tion in this particular, and shows the white band as very narrow, while in B. acuto- 

 rostrata it occupies from one third to one half of the surface of the pectoral. If this 

 distinction were constant it would, of course, have a certain importance. Unfortu- 

 nately Scammon's description is not explicit on this point and his figure cannot be 

 relied upon in detail. For example, the shape of the head is entirely unlike any Fin- 

 back, and the lower lip is similarly incorrect. The same is true of the caudal region, 

 the dorsal fin, and the flukes. If these characters were really as represented in 

 the figure, it would be necessary to remove the species from the genus Balcenoptera. 



The skull, however (of which more will be said later), is indistinguishable 

 generically, if not specifically, from B. acuto-rostrata. Nearly all the figures of 

 whales in Scammon's work were evidently " improved " by the lithographers, with 

 the result that they must be regarded as to a certain extent diagrammatic. 



