THE ORDER CETACEA. 117 



Giesecke, the balee'na mysticetus, or common whale, 

 possesses thirteen* ribs on each side ; whilst in the B. 

 rorqual there are fourteen. An additional distinguish- 

 ing character in the rorqual is the circumstance of there 

 being at the muzzle a few small blades of baleen, or 

 whalebone, a character not found in any other species 

 of the whale genus, with a small bristly tuft, like the 

 mane of a horse, only much firmer in texture. This 

 important feature in this animal is finely preserved in 

 the skeleton. This important and characteristic fact has 

 neither been mentioned by Pennant nor Cuvier, and the 

 rorqual in La Cepede's " Histoire Naturelle de la Ceta- 

 cees" is any thing but a true representation. There 

 are no abdominal or hind limbs in any of these animals ; 

 neither is there any vestige of pelvis, with the exception 

 of a small portion of bone analogous to the ossa pubis 

 of quadrupeds. 



The Head. — This portion of the whale bears some re- 

 semblance to a pyramid lying on its side, the point or 

 apex being in the front, and the base attached to the 

 spine. We may not improperly divide, for the purpose 

 of description, the head into five surfaces, viz. a superior, 

 an inferior, a posterior, and two lateral. The superior 

 surface is of a triangular shape j its length being about 

 twenty-five feet : it is terminated anteriorly by the 

 muzzle or extremity of the palatine bones ; and pos- 

 teriorly by the vault of the skull, which is occupied by 

 the brain, and is distinguished by the frontal bone, which, 

 passing in a semilunar direction, terminates in a process 

 that contributes to form the anterior portion of the zy- 

 gomatic arch ; thus exhibiting an analogy to quadrupeds. 

 From the top and anterior part of the frontal bone the 



* Vide, }>. 1>. 



