280 Zoological Society. 



second cervical has a small, nearly central perforation, and this per- 

 foration gradually becomes larger on each succeeding vertebra, until 

 in the sixth it nearly occupies the whole disc of the lateral process, 

 the seventh being only found with a narrow elongated process from 

 the upper edge, the lower process being reduced into the form of a 

 small tubercle. 



The Plymouth specimen is travelling the country, curiously 

 mounted in three caravans (the first containing the head, the second 

 the thorax, and the third the middle of the tail), so as to exhibit the 

 parts of the skeleton in their proper situations when the caravans 

 are placed one after the other with their ends removed, and the cer- 

 vical, lumbar, and caudal vertebrae suspended between or beyond 

 them. 



This specimen was found floating on the sea in a decomposed state 

 on the 20th of October, 1831, in Plymouth Sound, and is said to 

 have been 102 feet long and 75 feet in circumference, but most 

 likely the abdominal cavity was distended by internal decompo- 

 sition. 



The lumbar vertebrae are thick and large ; both these characters 

 must render this Finner much more powerful and active in the water 

 than any of its allies. The lower jaw 1 7 feet long ; the blade-bone 

 32 inches by 51 ; the upper arm-bone 20 inches long by 10^ wide; 

 the lower arm-bone 31 inches long. The lumbar vertebrae are 11 

 inches long and 14 inches wide ; the first rib 59 inches long and 10^ 

 inches wide at the sternal end. The chest-bone is 28 inches wide and 

 18 inches long. 



In this skeleton the proprietor has placed a blade of Greenland 

 whalebone (Balcena mysticetus) on one side, and several of South Sea 

 whalebone {Balcena austraiis) on the other side of the upper jaw, in 

 the place of the true baleen of Physalus. 



There is a second skeleton, which most probably belongs, or is 

 very nearly allied to this species, exhibited at Black-Gang Chine, on 

 the south side of the Isle of Wight, which was caught near the 

 Needles. It was 75 feet long, of a greyish colour. 



The skull is 16 feet 7 inches long, 5 feet wide at the orbital notch ; 

 the lower jaw 16 feet 9 inches long ; the sternum 26 inches wide and 

 14 long; the upper arm-bone 24 inches long, the lower 33 inches 

 long. 



This skeleton chiefly differs from the former in the bones of the 

 arms being rather longer, though the body is one-third shorter; 

 but the length of the Plymouth specimen may be over-estimated. 



** The transverse apophyses of the cervical vertebrce short, of the third, 

 fourth, fifth and sixth separate. Rorqualus. 



2. Physalus (Rorqualus) Boops. 

 The transverse apophysis of the second cervical vertebra thick, 

 short, converging, but separate at the end ; of the other cervical 

 vertebrae slender, rather longer, far apart. The upper apophysis of 

 the sixth bent down, rather elongate, the lower one thicker, shorter, 

 and bent up at the end. 



