XII.] 



CRT ACE A. 



221 



The supraorbital processes of the frontals are very long 

 and narrow in the Right Whales, but broader in the Rorquals ; 

 they are not covered by plates from the maxillae, as in the 

 Dolphins. The orbit is small and completed below by a 

 small curved malar, quite different from that of the 

 Dolphins. There is a small wedge-shaped lacrymal inter- 

 posed between the antorbital processes of the frontal and 

 maxilla and the malar. 



FIG. 67. Section of the skull of a fcetal Southern Right Whale (Bal&na. australis), 

 Tt- PMx premaxilla ; Na nasal ; Ar frontal ; Pa. parietal : SO supraoccipital ; OS 

 orbitosphenoid ; AS alisphenoid ; ExO exoccipital ; Per periotic ; BO basi- 

 occipital ; Ty tympanic ; BS basisphenoid ; Sq glenoid articular surface of squa- 

 mosal ; Pt pterygoid ; PI palatine ; PS presphenoid ; Vo vomer ; MX maxilla ; 

 cp coronoid process of mandible ; cd condyle ; dg dental groove ; mg remains of 

 groove which lodged Meckel's cartilage. No part of the mesethmoid is ossified. 



The palate is long and narrow, with a strong keel or 

 ridge in the middle line. The surface on each side, sloping 

 upwards and outwards, is perforated by many large foramina 

 to permit the passage of blood-vessels and nerves to the 

 matrix of the baleen, or "whalebone," which covers it in 

 the living animal. It is chiefly formed by the maxilla, 



