S6 



to combine the greatest strength with the power of effecting 

 the object to which any part of the spinal column may be 

 specially destined. We may, likewise, study the delicate 

 mechanism of the paddles, and the manner in which the 

 hinder legs, so necessary to the other orders of Mammalia, 

 here disappear ; or we may compare the small and simple 

 bones that terminate the tail, with the accounts which whalers 

 give us of their stoutest boats being dashed to pieces by the 

 powerful cartilaginous flukes of which these weak bones form 

 the axis. But it is almost impossible to detail the various 

 subjects for meditation, which the inspection of such a skeleton 

 may suggest to the minds of our visitors ; and I shall, there- 

 fore, proceed to the description of another cetacean animal of 

 the sperm whale family, which presents, as I believe, a form 

 new to naturalists. 



