30 



With respect to the radius and ulna, they are both con- 

 stricted in the middle, and of much the same form, except 

 that the globular olecranian process of the latter gives a 

 peculiar character to this last, by its being very prominent 

 as it turns towards the thumb. The following are their 

 dimensions : — 



Length of ulna 



Breadth of upper part of ditto, including the olecranon, 



which projects so as to form a hook , 



Circumference of narrowest part of ditto 



Breadth of lower part of ditto 



Length of radius 



Breadth of head of ditto 



Circumference of narrowest part of ditto . , 



Breadth of lower part of ditto 



Inches 



10 



7 



H 

 11 



6J 



The bones of the carpus are not articulated together, as in 

 the more perfect mammals, but are imbedded in a mass of 

 that cartilaginous substance which so often, in Cetacea, repre- 

 sents bony matter. This flat mass of cartilage, which takes 

 the place of the wrist, is one foot two inches in width, and 

 extends five inches from the radius and ulna to the metacarpal 

 bones. 



The carpal bones are six in number. Five of them are of 

 rounded irregular shape, and are placed in a transverse row, 

 one opposite to each finger. The sixth is a thin linear flat 

 transverse bone, placed close to the radius, between it and the 

 carpal bone of the thumb ; so that the thumb may be con- 

 sidered as having two carpal bones. The largest carpal bone 

 is about two inches in diameter. There is considerable dis- 

 crepancy here between the description of Beale and mine as 

 just given ; but the true placing of the carpal and metacarpal 

 bones, rudimentary as they are in Cetacea, and separately im- 

 bedded in cartilage, is a subject of considerable difliculty, unless 



