7. SIBBALDltJS. 177 



sternum : upper part broad, thrce-lobed, with a linear elongate hinder 

 lobe {Dnhar, t. ). (In 8charft"s figure it is represented as shield- 

 like, with four nearly square rounded lobes.) The first rib is tri- 

 gonal, rather short, curved, and very broad, and with a rather deep 

 notch at the sternal end (as broad as one-third the length of the 

 outer edge). (JJubcn; t. 8. f.l (8 feet long).) The second rib slender, 

 subcyhndi'ical, with a rather long subcylindrical process on the 

 inside, just below the condyle (Dubai', t. 8. f. 2). The last rib 

 slender, subcylindrical (Dubai; t. 8. f. 3). The blade-bone with a 

 large coracoid process and acromion, the former broad, fiat, rather 

 bent up at the end (Dubar, t. 10). The humerus very short and 

 thick, not longer than broad. The radius and ulna nearly twice as 

 long as the humerus, the ulna with a long flat olecranon process. 

 The fingers 4, slender, tapering ; the second and third longest and 

 nearlj^ equally long, of 7 joints ; the fourth shorter, of 5 ; the first 

 shortest, of 4 joints, nearly half the length of the second (Dubar, 

 1. 11). 



Lilljeborg describes the " dorsal fin as very small, situated far be- 

 hind and placed on a thick prominence " (I. c. p. 57), and, according to 

 Dubar's measurement, it was three-fourths the length from the nose. 

 "From the calculations made by M. le Baron Cuvier and the 

 Professor of the Jardin du Roi, this enormous cetaceous animal must 

 have lived nine or ten centuries," — H. Mather's account of the Osterul 

 Whale, 1831, 8vo. 



Mr. YarreU (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1810, p. 11) notices a female of 

 this genus under the name of " Balceiioptera Boops." It was 

 stranded at Charmouth, Dorsetshire, on Feb. 5, 1840. It had no 

 warts about the lips ; back black ; underside white ; pupil oval, with- 

 out any eyelashes. Length 41 feet. Pectoral fin 5^ feet long, base 

 10|^ feet from tip of nose, and 1^ foot wide. Dorsal small, conical, 

 11 feet in advance of the tail. Skeleton 40 feet long, head 10 feet. 

 Vertebrai 60, viz. 7 cei-vical, 15 dorsal, 16 lumbar, 15 caudal, and 

 with 7 caudal bones. Ribs 14/14 ; the fu'st double-headed, and at- 

 tached to the first two vertebra; ; each of the other ribs is attached 

 to a single vertebra, and has a single head. The dorsal vertebrte ex- 

 ceed the ribs by one. " The subcutaneous layers of fat varied in 

 thickness from 3 to 5 inches." " In other details the skeleton agreed 

 with Dewhixrst's description of the ' Ostend Whale.' " 



" Head, back, tail, and outside of the pectoral fins black ; inside 

 of the pectoral fins, throat, breast, and belly beautiful white ; inside 

 of the under jaw black ; tongue, palate, and the spaces intervening 

 between the reefs on the beUy pink. The under jaw the widest, and 

 projecting 9 inches beyond the upper one ; end of both jaws rounded. 

 The muzzle longer and more attenuated than in Balmia. The spi- 

 racles longitudinal, Ukc slits or fissures, nearly meeting in front, and 

 gradually diverging behind to a distance of about 3 inches. Ealeen 

 bluish black and yellowish white. Female 42 feet long, weighing 

 25 tons. Blubber varied in thickness from 3 to 5 inches ; yielded 

 three hogsheads of oil." — Siveetinr/, Mat/. Nat. Hist. 1S40, p. 342. 

 The accounts in the ' Mag. of Nat. Hist.' and in the ' Proc. Zool. 



