336 MAMMALIA : CETE. — LI. 



most valuable of the whales. L. $ 80 feet ; 9 much smaller. 

 (Bu.) (jioKpos, long ; xc^aX^, head.) 



Family CXIV. BAL^NID-ffi. (The True Whales.) 



Teeth disappearing before birth, their place taken in the upper 

 jaw by an array of parallel plates with fringed edges, known as 

 baleen or whalebone. Eye very small, placed close to angle of 

 mouth. Spiracles separate, comparatively simple in structure ; 

 lower jaw very large and thick, its edge convex upward. Genera 

 4 or 5 ; species about 20 ; huge creatures, mostly of the colder seas, 

 feeding chiefly on small animals and sought by man for the sake of 

 the oil (blubber) and the whalebone. 



It. Belly with conspicuous longitudinal furrows; pectorals shorter than head. 



b. Dorsal fin well developed, but small Bal^noptera, 585. 



ib. Dorsal fin obsolete; back with a fieshy hump; belly with furrows; 



pectoral as long as head. . . Megaptera, 586. 



oa. Belly without furrows ; dorsal fin obsolete ; whalebone very long and 

 blackish Bal.ska, 587. 



585. BAL.3:NOPT£iRA Lacepfede. {Balmna, whale ; rrripdv, 



fin.) 



a. Dorsal fin posterior. (Fin-back whales.) (Physalus Gray.) 



1112. B. physalus (L.). Common Rorqual. Finner. Fin- 

 back. Razor-back. Grayish slate above, paler below ; whalebone 

 slate-color varied with brownish ; L. 70 feet. N. Atl., the com- 

 monest finback whale feeding on herring. (.Bu.) (P. anti- 

 quorum Gray; Sihbaldius tectirostris Cope.) 



1113. B. musculus (L.). Blue Whale. Dark bluish gray, 

 with small whitish spots on breast ; flippers very long, 7 in body ; 

 dorsal very small, far back; whalebone black. L. 80 to 85 feet. 

 One of the largest of animals, second only to its relative, Balmnop- 

 tera sulfurea Cope, the Sulphur Bottom Whale of the Pacific, 

 which reaches 100 feet. N. Atl., probably off our coasts. (£«.) 

 (S. sibbaldi Gray.) (Musculus, old name of some whale.) 



aa. Dorsal submedian. (Balcenoptera.) 



1114. B. boreallB (Lesson). Rudolphi's Rorqual. Blue-black 

 with oblong pale spots; flippers small, 11 in body; whalebone dark. 

 L. 50 feet. N. Atl., occasional off our coasts. (Eu.) (^"i Sibbaldius 

 tuberosus Cope.) 



1115. B. acutorostrata Lacepfede. Little Piked Whale; 

 Scrag Whale. Grayish black, white below; flippers with a 

 broad white band ; whalebone pale. L. 30 feet. N. Atl., occa- 

 sional off our coasts. (Eu.) {'i Agaphelus gibbosus Cope.) 



