ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 297 



The skeleton of this whale has been described by 

 Sir W. Flower^ from a specimen in the British 

 Museum. 



The skull is very slightly asymmetrical ; it is crested 

 behind the nares, the vertex being formed by the 

 frontals. 



There is no distinct lacrymal bone. The maxillae 

 are narrow, and excavated by the pre-maxillse in a way 

 paralleled in Pontoporia, but not found among the 

 dolphins. The palatines are separated from each 

 other by the vomer, and the pterygoids are nearly 

 in contact. "The mandible presents a remarkable 

 miniature resemblance to that of a Cachalot." Its 

 most remarkable feature is the great length of the 

 symphysis. 



The vertebrae are very few, only forty-one in all, 

 which are thus distributed : C. 7 ; D. 1 3 ; L. 3 ; Ca. 

 18 = 41. The neck, as in Platanista, is particularly 

 long, and for the matter of that distinguishable ex- 

 ternally. This is due to the relatively great length 

 and complete separation from each other of all the 

 cervicals an uncommon state of affairs in toothed 

 Cetacea, but found in Platanista, Beluga, and Mono- 

 don. There is a faint indication of an odontoid 

 process to the axis, more developed in Platanista. 



The dorsal vertebrae have high and erect spines. 

 There are both anterior and posterior zygapophyses 

 on the first nine ; anterior zygapophyses only on the 

 tenth and eleventh. The transverse processes begin 



* " Description of the Skeleton of Inia geoffrensis, etc.," Trans. Zool. 

 Soc., vi., p. 87. 



