ORDER OE CETACEA. 
91 
The Megapterince, or Hump-backed Whales, form a well-distin- 
guished subfamily of Balcenopteridce. 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. Hr. Gray adopts three genera of 
them — Megaptera , Poescopia, Eschrichtius ; 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 vicinity 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 Hr. Gray. “ This Whale,” writes Mr. 
Brown, “is only found on the Greenland coast in the summer 
months. For many years it has been regularly caught at the 
settlement of Frederickshaab, in South Greenland. In JSTorth 
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 all Horth 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 
Hisco Bay. He got blubber 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 account and being difficult 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. 
