MEGAPTERA. 41 
Megapteropsis Van Ben., Res. Cét. Belgique, Nouv. Mem. Acad. 
Brux., 1861, p. 38. 
Pescopia Gray, Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1864, p. 207, fig. 3. 
Head moderate; baleen short, broad; skin of throat plicate, or 
folded; pectorals long and narrow, one-fourth of the entire length of 
animal; dorsal low; vertebrz, 53; cervical vertebre free, sometimes 
ankylosed; nuchal arch high, subcircular; frontal broad. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. 
A. Upper parts black. PAGE 
ENS are eee a M.n.bellicosa 41 
aE eo eS M.versabilis 41 
nodosa bellicosa (Megaptera), Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., x11, 1870, 
p. 103. 
FIGHTING WHALE. 
Type locality. Vicinity ot St. Bartholomew’s Island, West Indies. 
Geogr. Distr. Carribean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic. 
Genl. Char. Cranium similar to that of M. longimana; supra- 
occipital with a deep median groove from foramen magnum to near 
superior surface. with a protuberance on each side near middle; 
nasals in contact for much of their length, external beveled portion 
concealed by maxillz; otic bulla subcylindrical; ramus slender, 
curved; coronoid process subtriangular, acuminate; first rib with 
head simple; scapula simple. 
Color. Above sooty black, under parts and pectoral fins beneath, 
white spotted with black. 
Measurements. Total length, 32 feet. Skull, total length, 9 feet; 
nasals, 11.5 inches; width of cranium behind orbits, 5 feet, 4 
inches; ramus on curve, g feet, 10 inches. 
27. versabilis (Megaptera), Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil., 1869, 
p.15. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., gor, p. to. 
Hump-BACKED WHALE. 
Type locality. Northwest coast of America. 
Geogr. Distr. North Pacific Ocean to Alaska. 
Genl. Char. Pectoral fins between one-third and one-fourth the 
total length; pectoral and gular folds, 26. 
Color. Above black, and in the most typical form the belly ‘‘is 
said to be entirely black.’”’ (Cope,1.c.) External face oj the pectorals 
black. 
