THE GET ACE A, OR WHALES. 



249 



coverings, and stand as perpendicular back walls to 

 the nose, while the frontal and parietal bones are 

 compressed and pushed aside in the most remark- 

 able manner. However, it would certainly not re- 

 quire a practised osteologist to construct the skull 

 of a whale from any certified bone. There is 

 nothing in the skull of the whale that could, in the 



FIG. 45.- Skull of Delphinus lagenorhynchus. Gray. 



z &, Mid-jawbones ; o 1; upper jawbone ; j, cheek-bone ; p, parietal ; s, frontal 

 bone ; , nasal bone ; e, olfactory bone. One-fifth nat. size. 



slightest degree, lead to a connection between it 

 and the Sirenians (p. 243). Nevertheless, their hind 

 limbs, like those of the Sirenians, have disappeared 

 externally without leaving a trace of their former 

 existence ; the rudimentary pelvic bones that are 

 concealed in the flesh sometimes with the last rem- 

 nant of the thigh-bone, very rarely with the shank 

 23 



