Genus BALENA Linnæus. 1. BALENA CISARCTICA Cope. 1865. "The Black Whale of the Whalers of our Coast." Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1865, No. 3, July-Aug., pp. 168-169. Read Aug. 8, 1865. Type-locality and date: Opposite Philadelphia, on the coast of New Jersey, 1862.1 Type-specimen: Nearly complete skeleton of a half-grown individual, presented to the Philadelphia Academy by George Davidson. The whale had previously been exhibited for some time. Cope estimated that the length of the skeleton if complete would be 37 feet. It lacks the right nasal bone, the malars, the sternum, the carpal and pelvic bones, and all the chevrons. The ends of the maxillæ are broken off, and probably the premaxillæ lack about two inches of their original length anteriorly. The ribs and phalanges are not accurately mounted. Cope's description of the type is quite accurate, but contains one error, namely, the assertion that the sixteenth vertebra from the last pair of ribs is the first which has a perforated diapophysis. It is in fact the seventeenth from the last pair of ribs, or the thirty-eighth vertebra in the series. Cope states that the total length of the skull axially is 101 inches. I am unable to make it more than 964 inches, but about 2 inches should be added for the breakage of the tip of the premaxillæ, making 981⁄2 inches in all. If Cope's measurement is correct, the skull must therefore have shrunk about 2 inches. This is quite possible, owing to the drying of the bones and the bending down of the rostrum. Cope's measurement of the breadth of the scapula is 29 inches. I make it 30 inches. The type-skeleton is figured on pl. 43. The following measurements of it were made by myself in May, 1900: Skull: 1 Inches 96.5 * 65.75 76.0 17.75± 8.0* 7.5° 6.25 A note (by Cope?) in the Amer. Naturalist, 12, 1878, p. 750, refers to the type as captured "near Philadelphia." 2 'In the table of measurements I have not used Cope's measurement, because the skull has doubtless shrunk in other directions as well. 'One or two inches should, perhaps, be added. * Internal border; the external border is 10 in. 'Only the left nasal is preserved. This is 3 in. broad opposite distal end of inner border. Twice 37. Height of 1st caudal, measured posteriorly, and including process for chevron... Greatest breadth of 1st caudal... Inches 92.0 101.5 7.0 18.25 26.25 16.00 7.0 22.01 19.5 8.75 2 30.0 23.0 15.0 14.0 13.5 13.0 10.5 8.0 14.0 Length of humerus, straight.... The first vertebra with a perforated diapophysis is the 38th. The neural spine disappears on the 45th vertebra. The diapophyses are reduced to a mere swelling on the 41st vertebra; as distinct processes with concave anterior margins, the last are on the 37th vertebra. Genus RHACHIANECTES Cope. 1869. 2. AGAPHELUS GLAUCUS Cope. 1868. "The California Gray Whale." Rhachianectes glaucus (Cope). 1869. Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1868, No. 3, June-Aug., p. 159. Read June 23, 1868. Type-locality: Coast of California. Type-specimen: "A full set of baleen of one side of the maxillary" in the museum of Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. Cope's original description of the California Gray whale was appended to a notice of the mythical "Scrag whale," for both of which he established the genus Agaphelus. The description is so brief that it may be inserted here in full: "A second species of the genus [Agaphelus] was to be found in the gray whale' of the coasts of California. The baleen of this species, compared with that 'Anterior. Height of arch and spine of 1st lumbar, 9 in.; of 1st caudal, 9 in. of the A. gibbosus, was longer and had narrower basis. The plates moderately and simply concave, while those of the latter are sigmoidal, most curved near the outer margin in cross section. The bristles of the California species were very coarse, varying from one to three series between the enamel plates. The bristles of the A. gibbosus much finer, three series together. Length of the latter 8.5 inches, width at base 4.4 inches. In the gray whale or Agaphelus glaucus Cope, 22 inches in length, width at base 6 inches. In the former nearly 6 in an inch, in the latter 24. The baleen of the A. gibbosus belonged to an immature specimen of 35 feet in length." (28, 159–160.)1 In the same year, Cope mentioned the species again under the name of Agaphelus glaucus in a list of the Cetacea of the coasts of North America (27, 193). A little later in the year 1868 he published a full description of two specimens observed at Monterey, Cal., Jan., 1866, by Mr. William H. Dall, and a set of whalebone in the Essex Institute. This was in an article entitled, "On Agaphelus, a genus of toothless Cetacea" (26, 226-227). The whalebone was that described earlier in the year, and must be considered as constituting the type-specimen. The Monterey specimens consisted of a nearly complete skeleton, and a specimen in the flesh, "killed by Killers (Orca)," sufficiently complete to allow of external measurements and notes on the external characters and coloration. Two skulls were obtained by Mr. Dall at Monterey, at a later date, one of which was deposited in the museum of the California Academy of Sciences, and the other in the National Museum (Cat. No. 13803, U. S. N. M.). In 1869, Cope erected the genus Rhachianectes for this species (83, 15). Genus BALENOPTERA Lacépède. 3. SIBBALDIUS TUBEROSUS Cope. 1869. Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1869, p. 17. Presented for publication, March 9, 1869; published, July 20, 1869. Type-locality: Mobjack Bay, Virginia, near the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, between York River and Rappahannock River, Aug. 11, 1858. Type-specimen: Skeleton of "an adult male." Captured by Dr. P. A. Taliaferro and Prof. Edwin Taliaferro of William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, "and prepared and set up "—(where ?). A passing allusion to the specimen on which the species was founded was made by Cope in 1865 (22, 168). In 1866 he published a brief description of the specimen, drawn up by Prof. E. Taliaferro (23, 8), but referred it to his Megaptera osphyia, which he had described a short time before. Later in the same year he concluded that it represented the Sibbaldius laticeps of Gray (24,297). It was not until 1869 that he finally decided that the whale represented a new species, which 'These numbers and all similar ones following refer to the bibliography at the end of the volume. The letters "sep." indicate that the paging is from a reprint or "separate." he thereupon named Sibbaldius tuberosus. The account of it first given, in 1866, is as follows (23, 8): "The whale alluded to (Proceedings, 1865, p. 168) as having been seen in Mobjack Bay, Virginia, was stated to have been captured by Dr. P. A. Taliaferro, of William and Mary College, Williamsburg, and prepared and set up. It is a short-finned Megaptera, probably of the species M. osphyia. Prof. T. has kindly furnished me with the following details as to its structure, carefully drawn up by himself. "Length from end of muzzle over convexity of back, forty-three feet nine inches; girth about nineteen feet; length from end of muzzle to axilla (external measurement), fifteen feet; breadth of head across inferior margin of jaws, eight feet. Length of the pectoral extremity, four feet; greatest breadth fifteen inches; they were situated close behind the angle of the mouth. There were three hundred and sixty laminæ of baleen, extending on either side of the mouth about six feet along the jaw, the longest about eighteen to twenty inches. The head was acute. The folds of the throat many and capacious. The dorsal fin was represented by a conical mass covered by horny integument, without any membranous appendage, situated well posteriorly. The body near the tail very slender. The flukes suddenly expand to a breadth of ten feet. The cervical vertebræ were all distinct. Color: jet black above, white on the belly; sides beautifully marbled by the combination of the two colors. "The most striking feature in this specimen is the shortness of the pectoral limbs, being relatively nearly half less than in the specimen of the osphyia at Niagara, one-half the length of the cranium, and only one-tenth the total. This is very different from any of the hitherto known species, and without doubt distinct." Cope stated in 1866, as just quoted, that the skeleton had been prepared and set up, but did not say where, or by whom. Later in the same year he stated that the skeleton was in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, but in 1869 remarked again that the deposit of the specimen in the Academy had been delayed, but was expected in a short time. He left it uncertain, therefore, whether the skeleton of the type was or was not in Philadelphia. In 1899, and again in 1900, I visited the Academy of Natural Sciences, and through the kindness of Dr. Dixon and Mr. Stone was enabled to look over all, or nearly all, the bones of whales then in the museum. I did not find any corresponding to S. tuberosus, and it would seem probable that the skeleton never reached Philadelphia. This view is strengthened by the fact that a writer in the American Field in 1889,' repeating the story of the capture of the whale, as he had heard it from the lips of Dr. Taliaferro, who pursued and killed the animal, proceeds as follows: "I [Dr. Taliaferro] took the whalebone out of his mouth, and bade the servants help themselves to his blubber if they wanted to. Although we got all the servants and dug huge holes and buried the carcass in sections, yet, like Banquo's ghost, it would not down. His jawbones now ornament the doors of my [Dr. Taliaferro's?] carriage-house and I have several of his vertebræ, which come in handy as footstools." "REYNARD," American Field, March 2, 1889, pp. 196-198. If the bones had ever been got together and sent to Philadelphia, it would seem very probable that Dr. Taliaferro would have mentioned the fact. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to understand how Professor Cope could give the detailed measurements and description of the skeleton, as published by him in 1866, unless he had had access to the specimen. They could, of course, have been furnished him by Dr. Taliaferro, but their character is such as to render this very improbable. In 1869 Professor Cope compared this whale with his S. tectirostris by external characters only, which characters he stated in 1866 were drawn up and furnished him by Dr. Taliaferro. He then remarked that as the specimen had not reached the Philadelphia museum, further comparison could not be made at that time (1869). It is certainly remarkable that Cope does not refer here to his detailed measurements and description of the skeleton, published in 1866. He could not have forgotten their publication, and one is, therefore, led to believe that there was something about them that barred them out. The only supposition which seems reasonable is that they were not really from the Mobjack Bay whale, but from some other specimen. Considering the uncertainty regarding the skeleton, it may be best for the present purposes to rely entirely on the statements as to the external characters in our endeavor to ascertain the identity of S. tuberosus. Dr. Taliaferro's notes on the coloration, etc., published by Cope in 1866 (23, 8), furnish the following characters and measurements: Head acute. Pectoral ridges many and capacious. Dorsal fin represented by "a conical mass covered with horny integument, without any membranous appendage, situated well posteriorly." Body near tail very slender. Length from end of muzzle over convexity of back... Length of pectoral..... Greatest breadth of do.... Breadth of flukes... ... 43 ft. 9 in. 15 O 66 8 66 O 4 O Color "jet black above, white on the belly; sides beautifully marbled by the combination of the two colors." "There were 360 laminæ of baleen, the longest about 18 to 20 inches." In Dr. Taliaferro's story, as narrated by "Reynard" in the American Field in 1889, the color is thus referred to: "For a half second that mighty fish, with back arched and immense fins quivering straight out from its side, was hung in mid-air not fifteen feet from me. I caught sight of him on the gleaming white of his side, just under his flipper, and fired. "As I said before, his immense flippers were quivering straight out from him, and there was a line of demarkation down his side where the gleaming white of his belly joined his marbled, grayish black back. "When I thought he ought to be aground, the first thing I saw was his white belly turned up." |