514 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



Order CETACEA-CARNIVORA. 



Sub-Order MYSTICETE. 

 Family, BAL^XIDiE. 



"Whales. 



BAL2E3NA, L. 



(Subaleena, Cope.) 



B. mysticetes (oisarolica). Bight Whale. Whalebone Whale. Black 

 Whale, &c. 



Head very large ; no teeth ; 600 baleen plates in upper jaw ; 

 no dorsal fin ; 2 spiracles ; eye above angle of mouth ; length, 

 40 to 60 feet. 



"Individuals of several species are occasionally cast ashore 

 eastward, and some are known to enter New York harbor. 

 They were formerly abundant about the mouth of the Dela- 

 ware."— Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Se. Phil, 1866. The finback 

 whale (Dubertus or Gubartas) Srbaldius teotirostris, Cope, is 

 abundant off Massachusetts. They swim so as to expose a part 

 of the back. The sperm whale (Physeter maeroeephalus, Lac.) 

 was once abundant on our coast. De Kay mentions two species 

 of Rorquals, Rorqualus rostratus and R. borealis, as having 

 been captured in New York Bay, 1822, and in the Delaware, 

 1804, respectively. 



