RIGHT WHALES 143 



second dorsal vertebra, a remarkable state of affairs 

 upon which I have commented elsewhere. The ribs 

 are attached only to the transverse processes of their 

 vertebrae, and there apparently not very firmly. The 

 second to the fifth ribs, however, have a neck and 

 head produced beyond the tuberculum towards the 

 centrum, which, however, they do not seem to reach. 

 If Neobalcena is an especially diving whale capable 

 of longer submersion than some others, the lax 

 attachment of the ribs may conceivably be explained 

 as furthering this capability, for it would allow of a 

 greater expansion of the contained lungs. (See p. 55) 

 Another feature in which the ribs are remarkable is 

 their great breadth and flatness. This brings them 

 close together into a thick armature for the protection 

 of the underlying viscera. The condition of the ribs 

 is suggestive of the Sirenia and of many Ungulates. 



Neobalana marginata, of Gray* (perhaps Caperea 

 antipodarum, Gray, ib., p. 101, in part), is the only 

 species of the genus. 



* Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 90. 



