224 Zoology a7id Comparative Aiiatomy 



osseous, and serve more the purposes of agility than flexi- 

 bihty. The greatest portions of the skeleton are united 

 through the medium of intervening cartilages, even to the 

 fingers, that is, the bones within the pectoral fins. The 

 sutures are imperfectly formed, and in some places the kind 

 of suture termed harmonia can hardly be said to exist ; in 

 the head, especially, the union of the bones is so feeble, that 

 they appear nearly disunited. 



Most of the bones of these animals are very porous, and 

 contain large quantities of very fine oil. The lower jaw-bones, 

 which measure usually from 20 to 25 ft. in length, are fre- 

 quently preserved on account of the oil, which can be drained 

 from them when they are conveyed into a warm climate. 

 When this is exhausted, these bones float freely in water. 

 They have very little of the compact substance which usually 

 characterises bones, and in some parts form portions which are 

 denominated epiphyses, that are but feebly connected to the 

 other bones ; and in the spine thirteen transverse natural 

 processes were found detached from the body of the bone, 

 without any apparent cause. Another peculiarity exists in the 

 articulation of the ribs, which are not united to the bodies of 

 the vertebrae, as in other Mammalia, but are connected through 

 an intervening cartilage to the transverse processes of the 

 dorsal vertebrae. This portion of the skeleton is pretty nearly 

 solid. 



According to the observations of Sir Charles Giesecke, the 

 ^alae^na ikfysticetus, or common whale, possesses thirteen ribs 

 on each side ; whilst in the B. Rorqual there are fourteen. An 

 additional distinguishing character in the Rorqual is the cir- 

 cumstance 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 im- 

 portant feature in this animal is finely preserved in the skele- 

 ton. This fact has neither been mentioned by Pennant nor 

 Cuvier, and the Rorqual in Lacepede's Hist. Cetac, 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 resem- 

 blance 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 ; 

 its length being about 25 ft. : it is terminated anteriorly by the 



