  Of this genus the National Museum has three skulls and three skeletons representing the species bairdii, and a skull representing the species arnuxii. The latter, Cat. No. 21511, U.S.N.M., is without exact locality, but is catalogued as having been obtained in New Zealand. As the species arnuxii has been well described and figured by Flower BERARDIUS BAIRDII Stejneger.
This species was based by Dr. L. Stejneger on a skull obtained by Mr. N. Grebnitzki in Stare Gavan, on the eastern shore of Bering Island, Commander Group, Bering Sea, in the autumn of 1881. In 1879 a portion of a skull of the same species was found on Bering Island by the Vega expedition, and was made the basis of a new species, B. vegÆ, by A. W. Malm, the description of which was published a few months after that of Doctor Stejneger. The National Museum subsequently received another skull from Bering Island, through Mr. N. Grebnitzki, but, so far as I am aware, nothing further was heard of the species until 1903 and 1904, when the National Museum received three nearly complete skeletons, two of them from St. George Island, Pribilof Group, Bering Sea, and one from the coast of California. The material now in the National Museum is as follows: (1) Cat. No. 20992.—Skull and mandible of an immature individual collected by Dr. L. Stejneger in Bering Island. Original number 1520. Catalogued November 24, 1883. Type. (2) Cat. No. (lacking).—Skull and mandible of an immature individual. Collected by Mr. N. Grebnitzki in Bering Island (?). Mounted. (3) Cat. No. 142118.—Skull, mandible, and cervical vertebrÆ of a very young individual. Collected by Dr. L. Stejneger, June 5, 1883, on North Rookery, Bering (4) Cat. No. 49726.—Skeleton and measurements of an adult female. Near East Rookery, St. George Island, Pribilof Group. Collected by James Judge, in June, 1903. Length, 40 feet 2 inches. (5) Cat. No. 49727.—Skeleton and measurements of an immature male. Same locality and date as the preceding. Length, 25 feet 5 inches. The two skeletons (4) and (5) are somewhat incomplete. The Museum received a photograph of the female from Maj. Ezra W. Clark. (6) Cat. No. 49725.—Skeleton and two photographs of an adult male (?) stranded on Centerville beach near Ferndale, Humboldt County, California, October, 1904. Length, about 41 feet. A brief note on the St. George Island and California skeletons was published by the author in Science for 1904. HISTORY OF THE ST. GEORGE ISLAND SPECIMENS.The St. George Island specimens were first made known by Mr. James Judge, special agent of the Treasury Department, resident at the Pribilof Islands, in a letter dated June 16, 1903, as follows:
Whale measurements, June 11, 1903.
The skeletons remained on the island until August, 1904, when they were carried by the revenue cutter McCulloch to Dutch Harbor and afterwards to San Francisco. Through a misunderstanding they were allowed to remain on the beach at St. George Island until November, 1903, and suffered considerable injury. On that date they were deposited in a storehouse by Maj. Ezra W. Clark, assistant treasury agent in charge, who afterwards presented the photograph of the female above mentioned. (Pl. 42, fig. 1.) The latter shows the short, narrow, pointed pectoral fin, and long, rather slender beak. Another specimen of Berardius was found stranded on St. George Island on August 21, 1909. The following information regarding it was received from Maj. Ezra W. Clark, under date of September 4, 1909:
HISTORY OF THE CENTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA, SPECIMEN.The Californian specimen (Cat. No. 49725) was first made known in a letter addressed to me by President Jordan, of Stanford University, under date of October 27, 1904, inclosing one from Mr. J. H. Ring, of Ferndale, California, dated October 23, 1904, which was as follows:
Mr. Ring was immediately communicated with, and very generously presented to the Museum the skull of the animal, which he had secured and cleaned with much labor and some danger to himself. He also undertook to have the skeleton cleaned and sent to Washington, and it was received in due course in June, 1905. Mr. Ring wrote under date of May 15, 1905:
When received, the skeleton lacked the flippers and also two of the teeth. Regarding the former, Mr. Ring wrote on November 18, 1905, as follows:
This skeleton was mounted recently and placed on exhibition in the Museum. The flippers were modeled from those of the St. George Island specimens (which were also imperfect) and from the figures of B. arnuxii given by Flower. The end of the beak was also restored, and a facsimile of the teeth substituted for the real ones. This remarkable skeleton shows in a manner hitherto unapproached the great size which this genus of ziphioid whales attains, and the peculiar conformation of the body. While the vertebrÆ rival those of the large whalebone whales, such as the Humpbacks, in their dimensions, the head is remarkable for its small size as compared with the immense proportions of the same part in the Right whales. (Pl. 42, fig. 4.) Mr. Ring sent to the Museum three photographs of the Californian specimen above mentioned, two of which are reproduced on Pl. 42, figs. 2 and 3. Although rather indistinct, they show the general form of the body, the peculiar bulbous head, with an indication of a neck, and the long beak. DESCRIPTION OF A YOUNG BERING ISLAND SPECIMEN.Doctor Stejneger has very kindly placed in my hands his original notes on the young individual examined by him in Bering Island June 5, 1883 (Cat. No. 142,188) and they are given below in full:
Table of dimensions.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION OF BERARDIUS BAIRDII.The original description of B. bairdii by Doctor Stejneger is as follows:
SIZE.It will be observed that the largest of the foregoing specimens measured 40 feet 2 inches in length, while the Centerville skeleton was reported to be about 41 feet long. The largest example of the New Zealand species, B. arnuxii, of which there is a record was 32 feet long. COLORATION.The St. George Island specimens were reported to be black on the back and white below, but it is not certain how long they had been dead when found by Mr. Judge. The young individual examined by Doctor Stejneger was also black on the back, but this was in a state of decomposition. The color of the type-specimen of Berardius arnuxii was described by Arnoux as follows: “Its color was entirely black, except for a light gray area near the genital organs; it was a male.” The color of the immature male of B. arnuxii captured in Wellington Harbor, New Zealand, in 1877, and described by Hector, was as follows: “The colour was black with a purple hue, except a narrow band along the belly, which was grey. The muzzle, flippers, and tail lobes were intensely black.” It is not likely that there is any marked difference in the color of arnuxii and bairdii, but the data available are insufficient for the determination of the matter. It will be observed, however, that Mr. Judge stated that the male bairdii found on St. George Island was white below, while in all the accounts of arnuxii the color of the under surface is given as blackish, with a restricted area of gray. Besides its apparently greater size, Berardius bairdii differs from B. arnuxii in various cranial and other osteological characters, as well as in external proportions, and is to be regarded as a distinct species. The external measurements of the St. George Island specimens reduced to percentages of the total length and compared with similar measurements of a specimen of B. arnuxii described by Hector, are as follows: External dimensions of Berardius bairdii and B. arnuxii.
The measurements of these specimens of bairdii agree well together. The specimen of arnuxii appears to have had narrower flukes, shorter pectoral fin, and a rather higher dorsal fin, situated farther forward than in bairdii. Measurements of a larger number of specimens might show that some or all of these differences of proportion are elusive, but it will be observed that in the Wellington specimen of arnuxii, recorded by Doctor Haast, the breadth of the flukes is only 21 per cent of the total length. The pectoral fin is said to be only 19 inches long, or only 5.2 per cent of the total length, but the manner of taking the measurement is not mentioned. As regards size, the largest specimen of B. arnuxii of which I find record is the type specimen. This was 32 feet long, and the skull 1,400 mm., or about 55 inches long. This appears to have been an adult male. The Centerville specimen of bairdii, which was an adult male, was about 41 feet long, and the skull 1,532 mm., or about 60 inches long, while the adult female from St. George Island was 40 feet 2 inches long and the skull 56 inches. Although the total length of the specimens of bairdii is so much greater, it will be observed that the length of the skull, while a little greater, absolutely fails to measure up to the proportions found in arnuxii. It might be suspected on this account that the external measurements of bairdii were exaggerated, but that such is not the case will appear from an examination of the measurements of vertebrÆ given on page 75. It is evident that the specimens of bairdii are far more massive in all parts of the skeleton than the specimen of arnuxii there cited. The same relations will be found upon comparing measurements of the specimen of arnuxii figured by Van Beneden and Gervais. SKULL.The skull of Berardius bairdii presents many characters by which it may be distinguished from that of arnuxii, whether adult or young. As compared with the latter, the rostrum is less massive at the base. The pterygoid has a rounded extension posteriorly and superiorly, so that the posterior portion of the upper border of the pterygoid sinus is convex, rather than nearly straight, as in arnuxii. The exoccipital is larger and broader distally below, and its external surface is plane or concave, rather than convex, as in arnuxii. The distal end of the zygomatic process is much more incurved. The nasal bones instead of presenting lateral extensions have nearly straight sides. The vomer is deeply emarginate at the base of the skull posteriorly where it rests against the presphenoid. The palatines extend scarcely or not at all in front of the pterygoids. The foregoing differences will readily be seen by comparing the figures on Pls. 26-29 with those of the type of B. arnuxii given in Van Beneden and Gervais’s Osteography, plate 23. The following are dimensions of skulls of both species: Dimensions of five skulls of Berardius bairdii (including the type) and of three skulls of B. arnuxii.
The foregoing measurements indicate a considerable variation in proportions among the different individuals, but there appears to be nothing that can be fixed upon in this small series to distinguish the two species by dimensions alone. EARBONES.The tympanic and periotic bones of B. bairdii (Pls. 34-37) present a number of characters by which they may be distinguished from those of B. arnuxii. While of about the same size in both species, the two bones when in the natural position, viewed from without, are nearly square rather than triangular in outline in B. bairdii, the superior border of the periotic being nearly parallel with the inferior border of the tympanic, and the anterior lobe of the periotic being turned down nearly at right angles with the rest of the bone. The periotic is shorter anteriorly than the tympanic in B. bairdii, while the reverse is true in B. arnuxii. In the former species the eustachian canal of the tympanic is wider, the distance between the outer and inner lips being greater. The involuted portion of the inner lip is shorter and differently shaped. The groove between the postero-inferior lobes is wider. The periotic beside having a much shorter anterior lobe than in B. arnuxii has also a smaller and smoother middle lobe, and the internal auditory meatus is smaller and more oblique. The dimensions of the bones in the Centerville beach skull, No. 49725, are as follows: Tympanic: greatest length, 62 mm.; greatest TEETH.Although all the specimens of Berardius bairdii are more or less incomplete, two or three of the mandibular teeth have been preserved in nearly every instance; namely, in the adult female from St. George Island, the left anterior and right and left posterior; in the immature male from the same island, both anterior teeth; in the Centerville beach specimen, the left anterior and right (?) posterior teeth; in the skull from Bering Island formerly regarded as the type, all four teeth; in the very young skull from Bering Island, the left anterior and posterior teeth. Taken as a whole, these teeth are not larger than those found in the specimens of B. arnuxii thus far recorded, but in both species they vary so much on account of age, or for other reasons, that a comparison of dimensions is unsatisfactory. The dimensions are as follows: Dimensions of teeth of Berardius arnuxii and B. bairdii.
A description of the teeth of the different specimens of B. bairdii is subjoined. No. 142118.—Bering Island; young (new born?). Anterior tooth conical, hollow, with thin walls. The lower half of the tooth is filled with a mass of bony pulp, which is separable. The tooth is widest at the base, and is without any constriction indicating the formation of a root. Outer and inner surfaces slightly convex, the latter with several distinct longitudinal furrows, which extend to the apex. The whole tooth has a thin coating of cement, except the tip, for a length of about 10 mm., which is more nearly white, and consists, presumably, of dentine. The posterior tooth is similar to the anterior one, but much shorter and more blunt, and the longitudinal furrows are about equally distinct externally and internally. The cement extends nearly to the apex, which latter is very short and is directed backward. No. 49727.—St. George Island, Alaska; male, immature. Anterior teeth conical, acute, somewhat unsymmetrical, rather more convex externally than internally. The internal surface with a deep median longitudinal groove, and others less distinct on each side near the base. Apex slightly inclined forward and inward, convex externally, with a single longitudinal groove; nearly flat internally, with, or without, a groove. Base of tooth for about 17 mm. covered with longitudinal rugosities, indicating that the root was about to close. It is open, however, the walls of the tooth at the narrowest point being 8 mm. apart and the cavity filled with dense bony pulp. The anterior and posterior outlines of the teeth are irregular, being convex near the base, then slightly concave, and again convex near the apex. When in the natural position, these teeth protrude about 33 mm., or a little more than one-third their height, above the alveolus. (Pl. 39, figs. 3, 4.) Posterior teeth lacking. No. 49725.—Centerville beach, California; male (?), adult. Anterior tooth conical, with anterior and posterior margins as in the last. Apex considerably abraded and rounded off; not inclined inward or forward. Internal and external surfaces nearly equally convex, but the former with a broad median longitudinal groove. Root closed, the base of the tooth for a breadth of about 30 mm. covered with rounded rugosities. The inferior border slightly convex and the angles rounded off. When in the natural position, somewhat more than one-half of the tooth protrudes beyond the alveolus, and the tooth itself is inclined forward and outward. (Pl. 39, fig. 5.) Posterior tooth quite irregular in form, but the portion above the rugose base or root conical. Inner surface flat and uneven. Outer surface convex and rather rugose. The cement covers the whole tooth thickly to within about 5 mm. of the apex, which latter is short, quite acute, and slightly directed inward. It is convex externally and nearly flat internally. The basal rugosity or root is conical, thicker than the rest of the tooth, and unsymmetrical, being somewhat directed backward. It shows no opening below. When in the natural position this tooth is strongly inclined forward and outward, and only the tip for a length of 22 mm. protrudes beyond the alveolus. (Pl. 39, fig. 6.) No. 49726.—St. George Island, Alaska; female, adult. Anterior tooth conical, with the tip blunt, having been so much abraded that the dentine does not extend beyond the coating of cement. The tip measures 26 by 19 mm. The external and internal surfaces of the tooth are about equally convex and somewhat rugose without distinct furrows. The root is thicker than the remainder of the tooth and very rugose. It is entirely closed below, and the inferior outline is convex. Posterior tooth much compressed, conical above the root, nearly flat internally and slightly convex externally. Cement coating very thick and extending to within about 5 mm. of the dentine apex, which latter is acute and very slightly curved inward and In the adult skull from Bering Island, which has been mounted and placed on exhibition, the teeth are fixed in the alveoli so that their entire length and the peculiarities of the basal portion can not be determined. In general form, however, they resemble those of the preceding specimen very closely. The anterior teeth are placed obliquely—that is, so that the anterior margins of the two teeth are nearer together than the posterior margins. The teeth are also somewhat inclined forward. The posterior teeth are strongly inclined forward and a little outward. The anterior teeth are rather concave along the middle internally and convex externally. The portion above the alveoli is quite smooth. The posterior teeth are moderately rugose above the alveoli. The whitish tips of denture are conical, compressed, and rather acute. They extend 6 mm. above the denture, and are 11 mm. long at their base, and 6 mm. thick. The anterior teeth protrude about 45 mm. above the alveolus (internally); their base at the alveolus is from 73 to 76 mm. long, and from 33 to 35 mm. thick. The posterior teeth extend about 18 mm. above the alveoli (measured vertically from the alveolus), and the base of the visible portion (measured along the alveolus) is from 30 to 34 mm. long and from 18 to 20 mm. thick. These teeth have an antero-external angular enlargement of the cement, so that they are somewhat triangular in horizontal section. (Pl. 30, fig. 3; pl. 31, fig. 5.) The data available are insufficient to enable one to determine satisfactorily whether the teeth differ materially in size in the two sexes, but it appears probable that they do not. SKELETON.While the skeleton of Berardius bairdii (Pl. 42, fig. 4) resembles that of B. arnuxii very closely in most particulars, it presents differences which may properly be regarded as specific. The vertebral formula of B. arnuxii as given by Flower is as follows: C. 7, Th. 10, L. 12, Ca. 19 = 48. Doctor Hector, however, gives a different formula for a third specimen of this species, namely, C. 7, Th. 10, L. 13, Ca. 17 = 47. He remarks that “extreme care was taken to secure the whole of the small tail bones.” The number of thoracic vertebrÆ can be determined positively from the youngish male from St. George Island (Cat. No. 49727), in which ten pairs of ribs are present, together with one rib belonging to the eleventh pair. This last is much shorter In the adult male from Centerville beach, California, only ten pairs of ribs are present, but as the tenth is quite as long as the ninth, there is little doubt that an eleventh pair was present originally. The eleventh thoracic vertebra, however, has transverse processes longer and more flattened at the free end than those of the tenth thoracic. It is possible, of course, that the real eleventh thoracic is lacking, and that this individual had thirteen lumbar vertebrÆ, but of this there is no positive evidence. Only a few of the ribs accompany the skeleton of the adult female from St. George Island, Alaska (Cat. No. 49726), but there are eleven thoracic vertebrÆ, the transverse processes of the eleventh being short and thick, like those of the tenth, with a distinct facet for the rib at the free end. This facet, however, is directed obliquely backward and occupies only the posterior half of the free margin. There is no doubt in my mind that the number of thoracic vertebrÆ in B. bairdii is normally 11 and in B. arnuxii, 10. This would ordinarily be of little importance, as in nearly all kinds of cetaceans a variation of one, or even two, in the number of thoracic and lumbar vertebrÆ in different individuals of the same species is commonly met with. In the present family, however, the number of thoracic vertebrÆ shows little variation, and as all known skeletons of B. bairdii have eleven thoracics and all known skeletons of arnuxii appear to have ten thoracics, it seems probable that this difference is specific. At all events, it is correlated with a difference in the form of the vertebrÆ themselves. As is well known, the transverse processes of the thoracics in this family undergo a sudden change of form and position near the end of the series, the elevated processes on the anterior thoracics being replaced on the posterior vertebrÆ by others at a lower level on the sides of the centra. This change takes place differently and on different vertebrÆ in the two species under consideration. VERTEBRÆ.In B. arnuxii the eighth thoracic has no facet at the posterior end of the centrum for the articulation of the head of a ninth rib and no distinct transverse process, the tubercle of the rib articulating with a facet on the side of the metapophysis. In B. bairdii the eighth thoracic is similar, but there is a distinct facet at the posterior end of the centrum. (Pl. 32, fig. 1.) In B. arnuxii the ninth thoracic has a very distinct transverse process on the side of the centrum, while in B. bairdii the ninth thoracic has a short, slender process attached to the side of the metapophysis and no facet at the posterior end of the centrum. (Pl. 32, fig. 1.) In B. arnuxii the tenth thoracic is the second one having a distinct transverse process, and the latter is broad distally and has the articular facet on the posterior portion of the free margin. In B. bairdii the tenth thoracic is the first having a distinct transverse process on the side of the centrum. (Pl. 32, fig. 1.) There are only ten thoracics in B. arnuxii, as already mentioned, but in B. bairdii there are eleven, and the eleventh is that which bears the second transverse process on the side of the centrum. The foregoing differences amount to this: That in B. bairdii the commencement of the lower series of transverse processes is pushed back one vertebra, as compared with B. arnuxii, and that in the ninth thoracic of the former species, which corresponds to the eighth of the latter species, the metapophysis has a short process on the side for the articulation of the tubercle of the rib, instead of merely a sessile facet. Although in other genera of ziphioids these differences would perhaps be looked upon as individual, since they are constant here they may be considered specific, at least provisionally. SCAPULA.In B. bairdii the anterior border of the scapula is narrower than in B. arnuxii, the anterior ridge coming close to it and lying parallel with it. The acromion is directed more upward, so that the angle between it and the body of the scapula is more acute, and the process itself is rather more expanded distally. The coronoid is inclined a little more downward. The whole surface of the scapula is very uneven. (Pl. 33, fig. 2.) HUMERUS AND ULNA.The humerus is shorter than in B. arnuxii and broader distally, and much more recurved on the ulnar side. The ulna is much broader distally and its whole shape is different. (Pl. 33, figs. 3 and 4.) CHEVRONS.As the skeleton of the typical form arnuxii has been described in considerable detail and accurately figured by Flower and by Van Beneden and Gervais, it is not considered necessary to give a complete description of that of bairdii in this place. The entire skeleton and many of the separate bones are figured in Pls. 42, 32, and 33. The phalanges are lacking altogether, or are incompletely represented, in the various skeletons of bairdii, and for that reason the phalangeal formula can not be given. The chevrons number ten in the skeleton from Centerville beach, California (Cat. No. 49725). Both Flower and Van Beneden and Gervais give nine chevrons as the number for the skeleton of arnuxii in the Hunterian Museum, London, but the latter authors have added a tenth in outline in the figure of the skeleton of that species which is in the Paris Museum. Ten are mentioned by Hector as the correct number for the skeleton of arnuxii from Wellington Harbor examined by him. STERNUM.The sternum of bairdii (Pl. 32, fig. 2) consists of five segments and does not offer characters by which to distinguish it from that of arnuxii. In the former species the first eight pairs of ribs possess distinct heads and tubercles; the tubercle is rudimentary in the ninth pair and absent in the tenth and eleventh. The dimensions of the three skeletons of bairdii and of that of arnuxii described by Flower are as follows: Dimensions of one skeleton of Berardius arnuxii and three skeletons of B. bairdii.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
