XVIII.] 



CETACEA. 



135 



The femur of the Elephant is long and very straight ; the 

 axis of the head is more in a line with that of the shaft than 

 usual. The great trochanter is not much developed, and 

 the small trochanter is nearly obsolete. The fibula is com- 

 plete, distinct, and slender, though considerably enlarged at 



the lower end. 



In the CETACEA, certain small nodular bones or cartilages 



attached by fibrous tissue to the outer side of the pelvic 

 bone in some of the Whalebone Whales, are commonly 



FIG. 120. Side view of bones of posterior extremity of Greenland Eight Whale 

 (Bnltrna mysticettts), J, from Eschricht and Reinhardt. z ischium ; f femur ; 

 / accessory ossicle representing the tibia. 



regarded as rudimentary and functionless representatives 

 of the skeleton of the hind limb. In the Greenland Whale 

 (Fig. 120), there is a proximal, somewhat pear-shaped bone 

 (/), about eight inches in length, and a smaller conical distal 

 bone (/), which may represent the femur and tibia 

 respectively, as suggested by their discoverer, Professor 

 Reinhardt. 1 In Megaptera longimana there is but one such 



1 See " Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea," Ray Society, 1866, p. 134. 

 The bones, articulations, and muscles of the rudimentary hind limb of 

 the Greenland Whale have been fully described by Professor Struthers, 

 " Journ. of Anat. and Physiology," vol. xv., 



