OEDEE OF CETACEA. 91 



Tlie Megnpterinw, or Hvimp-backed Whales, form a well-distin- 

 guished subfamily of Bal(Bnoptericke. They have remarkably long- 

 flippers, each containing four very long fingers, composed of many 

 phalangial bones ; the dorsal fin, low and broad, being said to 

 resemble that of a Cachalot. Dr. Gray adopts three genera of 

 them — Merfciptera, Poescopia, Eschrichtins ; founding each of them 

 upon a single species, and provisionally referring from other species 

 to the first one. In one or more of the species the Hump-back 

 "Whales occur in most parts of the world, generally in small herds, 

 and seldom at any considerable distance from land, "although," 

 remarks Mr. Bennett, " the Aacinity of the most abrupt coast 

 would appear to be their favourite resort. Examples," he adds, 

 " are occasionally seen in the neighbourhood of the islands of the 

 Pacific, and very frequently in the deep water round the island of 

 St. Helena. They are most abundant off the bold coast of Cape 

 St. Lucas, California." The Keporkak of the Greenlanders is the 

 Megaptera longimana of Dr. Gray. " This AVliale," writes Mr. 

 Brown, "is only found on the Greenland coast in the summer 

 months. For many j^ears it has been regularly caught at the 

 settlement of Freclerickshaab, in South Greenland. In North 

 Greenland it is not much troubled. "Whilst dredging in the 

 harbour of Egedesminde one snowy June day a large Keporkak 

 swam into the bay ; but though there were plenty of boats at the 

 settlement, and the natives were very short of food, yet they stood 

 on the shore staring at it without attempting to kill it. The 

 natives of this settlement are, no doubt, the poorest hunters and 

 fishers in aU North Greenland (if we except Godharn, the next 

 most civilised place) ; but there were at that time at the settlement 

 natives from outlying places. A whaler. Captain John "Walker, 

 one year, in default of better game, killed fifteen Hump-backs in 

 Disco Bay. He got bkibber from them sufficient, according to 

 ordinary calculation, to yield seventy tons of oil, but on coming 

 home it only yielded eighteen. The baleen is short and of little 

 value. Though one of the most common "Whales on the Greenland 

 coast, yet, on this accoimt and being difficxdt to capture, it is 

 rarely troubled."* Professor Eschricht, a high authority among 

 Cetologists, believes the Keporkak of Greenland and the Bermuda 

 "Whale to be the same species, and that it migrates from Greenland 



* Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1868, p. 548. 



