Cope's description of the type-skull is accurate, except that the nasals are longer than wide. The two together are as wide distally as each is long. The length of the maxilla from the tip to the end of the nasal process is 89 inches; breadth across the frontal summit, 133 inches; palatines, 21 inches long in the median line, measured in a straight line; the glenoid fossa of the squamosal from tip to tip in a straight line, 22 inches.

The atlas is wanting, also the 7th cervical, not the 4th, as stated by Cope. The processes of the axis form a complete bony ring, enclosing an oval foramen, the long axis of which measures 5 inches. The greatest width of the bony ring itself is 4 inches; distance from edge of anterior articular facet to outside of ring, 8 inches. The superior transverse processes of the 3d, 4th, and 5th cervicals are broken; also, the inferior processes of the 5th cervical. The length of the processes in the cervical vertebræ present (in straight lines) is as follows:

The breadth of the right radius at the distal end is 5 in.; of the left, the same ; at the proximal end, 53 in. in both. Breadth of the right ulna at the distal end, 4 in. ; of the left, 4 in.; at the proximal end (including the olecranon), right, 51⁄2 in., left, 6 in.

;

Not many months after Cope prepared the original description of S. tectirostris, he inserted in the American Naturalist the following brief notice of the typespecimen :

66 NEW FINNER WHALE.

"(Sibbaldius tectirostris.)

"The Academy of Natural Sciences has just obtained the perfect skeleton of a whale from the coast of Maryland. It is a finner, of the genus Sibbaldius Gray, and is half-grown and forty-seven feet in length. It is quite distinct from all known species, but is nearest S. laticeps. Its characters are found in the nasal and phenygoid [sic] bones, and in the cervical vertebræ, etc. I call it S. tectirostris. Two cervicals only have complete lateral canals; the nasals are short, wide, concave in front, except a prolonged keel in the middle line above, and in front.Edward D. Cope, Philadelphia.""

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'Amer. Nat., No. 5, July, 1869, pp. 277-278.

5. BALENOPTERA VELIFERA Cope. 1869.

"The Finner Whale of the Oregon Coasts."

Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1869, p. 16. Presented for publication March 9, 1869; published July 20, 1869.

Type-locality: Oregon Coasts. No type. Described from Scammon's observations and sketches. A northern and a southern form mentioned, but not described, or named.

The original description is as follows:

"The Finner Whale of the Oregon coasts.

"This species differs from all that have been described in that respect, in the color of the baleen; from the B. arctica of the Japanese Seas, the coloration of the body separates it; in the latter the sides are spotted black and white, in the present shaded from the brown of the upper to the white of the lower surfaces. The large size of the dorsal fin and its anterior position are marked characters; the northern species, with larger fin, is still more different from the B. arctica, the only one with which it would be probably identical.

"The more southern form, with very small fin, may be another species-possibly a Sibbaldius. The B. velifera cannot, unfortunately, be compared with the B. swinhoei and B. patachonica, as no similar parts are figured or described.

"The baleen, says Capt. Scammon, is of a light lead color, streaked with black, and its surface is marked with transverse roughening. In the B. physalus the whalebone is, according to Gray, slate-colored on the inner side, white streaked; on the outer side nearly black, and with still darker streaks. In the B. rostrata it is nearly all white, with some black at the base." (83, 16.)

In the list of cetacea by Mr. Wm. H. Dall, which is appended to Scammon's work (83, 303), it is stated that baleen of B. velifera is in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. I regret that I am unable to find any such specimens, or record of their receipt, though there are many specimens of whalebone of other species, received from Scammon.

6. SIBBALDIUS SULFUREUS Cope. 1869.

"The Sulphurbottom of the Northwest Coast."

Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1869, p. 20. Presented for publication March 9, 1869; published July 20, 1869. No type. Described from data furnished by Scammon, as follows:

"The Sulphur-Bottom of the North West Coast. This immense whale is as yet too insufficiently known to be distinguished as fully as desirable, but the marked peculiarity of coloration separates it from the only species with which a comparison is necessary the S. borealis or gigas of the North Atlantic. Capt. Scammon describes it to be gray or brown above, paler than in Balanoptera velifera, and beneath, a sulphur yellow. Length from 70 to 90 feet. The colors of the S. borealis are described as polished black above, milky white beneath, by Dubar."

7. BALENOPTERA DAVIDSONI Scammon. 1872.

Original description: Proceedings, California Academy of Sciences, 4, No. 20, Jan., 1873, pp. 269-270. Printed in advance, Oct. 4, 1872.

Type-locality: Admiralty Inlet, Washington, Oct., 1870. Female, 27 feet long, with fœtus, 5 ft. long.

Type-specimen: Skull No. 12177, U. S. National Museum. (See pl. 23, fig. 1; pl. 25, fig. 1; pl. 26, fig. 1.)

The original description is as follows:

"Above, dull black; body, pectoral and caudal fins white below, with a white band across the upper surface of the pectorals near their bases. Gular folds, seventy in number; the interspaces having a pinkish cast, though the more prominent portions are of a milky white. Head pointed; dorsal fin small, falcate, placed two-thirds the length of the body from the end of the beak. Pectorals small, narrow, placed one-third of the animal's length from the anterior extremity. Genitalia opening below and slightly behind the anterior edge of the dorsal fin. Baleen pure white; lamina on each side, two hundred and seventy in number; the longest not exceeding ten inches. Total length of animal twenty-seven feet; pectorals four feet long, thirteen inches wide; spiracles three feet eight inches behind the end of the beak; pectorals, ditto, eight feet six inches; anterior edge of dorsal, ditto, fifteen feet six inches; posterior edge, ditto, eighteen feet. Height of dorsal, ten inches; breadth of flukes, from point to point, seven feet six inches; width of lobes of the same, twenty-five inches. From the fork of the caudal fin to the anus, eight feet four inches; ditto to opening of vagina, nine and a half feet. Anterior end of snout to corner of mouth, four feet eight inches.

"Distribution from Mexico to Bering Strait; on the west coast of America. "The specimen from which this description was taken was obtained in Admiralty Inlet, Washington Territory, October, 1870. It was a female, and contained a foetus five feet long; thus correcting the error of the whalers, who commonly regard this small species as the young of the 'finback' of the coast. The skull has been deposited in the National Museum at Washington." (81, 269-270.)

Genus MEGAPTERA.

8. MEGAPTERA OSPHYIA Cope. 1865.

"Hunchbacked Whale of our [Atlantic] Coast.”

Original description: Proceedings, Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., 1865, p. 180. Offered for publication Sept. 19, 1865; published in 1865. Type-locality: Forty miles from Petit Manan lighthouse, Maine.

Type-specimen Skeleton from individual 50 ft. long, found dead at sea and towed to shore by Capt. Taylor. Skeleton mounted and preserved in museum at Niagara Falls, New York.

This species was based on a skeleton of a Humpback found dead at sea,1 40 miles from Petit Manan lighthouse, Maine, in July, 1844. It was mounted and 'A printed label now (1900) on the skeleton reads: "Captured by Capt. J. Bickford, of the ship Fulton."

exhibited in the popular museum at Niagara Falls, formerly on the Canadian side, but now located on the American side. Cope examined it at some time prior to 1865, and in that year described it as representing a new species. He recognized that it belonged to the genus Megaptera, but considered that it differed in several important characters from M. longimana (Rudolphi).

The original description, which is too long to quote in full in this place, applies well, except in a few particulars, to a skeleton 33 ft. 10 in. long, in the National Museum (No. 21492) from Cape Cod, Mass., which, as will be shown later, agrees closely with European specimens of M. longimana. One of the differences noted in the description is that in the type of M. osphyia the superior transverse processes of the cervical vertebræ increase in length from the 3d to the 5th, while in skeleton No. 21492, they rather decrease than increase. An examination of the type shows this distinction to be of little importance, as the processes are shorter posteriorly on one side and longer on the other.' Cope wrote at a time when Gray's opinion that the differences in the length and shape of the processes of the cervical vertebræ furnished reliable specific characters was generally accepted. Later researches have shown that these processes vary greatly in the same species.

In the description of the type of M. osphyia well-developed inferior transverse processes are said to occur on the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th cervicals; "that of the fifth, three-fifths the diameter of the centrum." An examination of the type bears out this statement. In skeleton No. 21492 there are inferior transverse processes on the right side of the 3d, 4th, and 5th cervicals, but none on the 6th; and that on the 5th is not more than the diameter of the centrum in length. That this difference is unimportant, however, is shown by the fact that there are no inferior processes whatever on the left side of the last five cervicals (3d to 7th) in this same skeleton.

A most extraordinary statement in the description of the type of M. osphyia is as follows: "The neural arches and spines are remarkably elevated on the dorsal and lumbar regions, somewhat as in the Catodontidae; e. g., in the 33d vertebra, the vertical diameter of the centrum is 9.75 inches, and the height of the arch and spine, 17.87 inches, or nearly double." Again, Cope remarks: "A most striking peculiarity of the species is the great elevation of the arches and spinous processes of the dorsal, and especially the lumbar vertebræ, reminding one of the structure in the toothed whales. The outline of the skeleton is thus somewhat humped behind, presenting a contrast to that represented by Rudolphi in the type specimen of the longimana, where the elevation of the arches and spines does not exceed the diameter of the centrum, on the lumbar region at least."

As I remarked in 1884 (89, 642), after having seen the type, these statements appear to have been due to a misapprehension. In the type the vertical diameter

'The figures for the superior transverse processes in the type are as follows (see p. 96):

(posteriorly) of the centrum of the 33d vertebra is 12 inches, and the neural arch and spine 13 inches, making a total of 25 inches. The height of the arch and spine is, therefore, about equal to the depth of the centrum, and not "nearly double," as stated in the original description. In skeleton No. 21492 the diameter of the centrum of the 34th vertebra1 is 9.75 inches, and with the neural arch and spine the total height of the vertebra is 18 inches. This character of the lumbar and caudal spines is clearly fictitious, and as it was really the principal one on which the species osphyia was based, we are justified in the assumption that the type represents the ordinary Humpback of our Atlantic coast, and is to be so regarded unless other characters than those enumerated by Cope can be detected.

In 1884, Cope in reviewing my Catalogue of Aquatic Mammals, above mentioned (30, 1123-1124), took exception to this view, and accused me of inaccuracy in stating that the high neural spines had been put forward as the principal character of the species. He quoted from his original description, as follows: "The shorter head and fins, the peculiarly high neural spines and peculiarities of some of the cervical vertebræ, would seem to distinguish this [species] from the longimana." As, however, a Megaptera with the skull "one-fifth, or less" the total length, and the flipper "one-fifth" the total length, as first reported by Cope, would be a decided anomaly, I regarded these dimensions with suspicion, and an examination of the skeleton showed that they were due to the imperfection of the specimen. The characters of the cervicals mentioned by Cope, in so far as they differ from those of any specimen of Megaptera, seemed to be of little importance, as above noted. The supposed great elevation of the neural spines of the dorsal and lumbar vertebræ seemed possible, and hence the really important character; and so, indeed, it would be, if established.

In 1868 Cope (27, 194) made further reference to the type, stating that the skeleton (as it then was) measured 34 feet, but that as it lacked some of the caudal vertebræ and the intervertebral cartilages had shrunk, the proper length was perhaps 42 feet. He describes several additional features of the skull and skeleton, all of which are to be found in the specimen in the National Museum, No. 21492, except that which relates to the union of the neural arches of the 3d and 4th cervical vertebræ. This is, however, an individual rather than a specific character.

In 1871, in describing another species (29, 107), Cope makes a few additional comments on M. osphyia. He remarks that in this species "the head and fin are even shorter than in M. longimana, and the coronoid process equally rudimentary. The width of the orbital plates [orbital process of the frontal] distally is .5 their length in the type of M. osphyia." As regards the orbital process of the frontal it is to be remarked that the proportions given by Cope for M. osphyia are the same in the two skulls in the National Museum (Nos. 21492 and 16252) from

.

'The 33d cannot be measured.

This refers to the spines of the dorsal and lumbar vertebræ, and not to those of the cervicals. F. W. T.

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And also of the caudals, as Cope mentions particularly the 33d vertebra among them. It is really the 2d caudal.