208 CATODONTID^. 



of a dense cellular tissue, strengthened by nuraei'ous strong tendi- 

 nous fibres, and permeated with very fine oil and spermaceti. 



" The mouth extends nearly the whole length of the head ; both 

 jaws, but especially the lower, are in front contracted to a very narrow 

 point ; and when the mouth is closed, the lower jaw is received within 

 a sort of cartilaginous lip or projection of the upper one — but prin- 

 cipally in front ; for further back at the sides and towards the angles 

 of the mouth both jaws are furnished with well-developed lips. In 

 the lower jaw are forty-two large conical teeth; in the upper are no 

 teeth, but depressions corresponding to and for the reception of the 

 ends of the teeth in the lower jaw. Sometimes a few rudimentary 

 teeth may be found in the upper jaw, never projecting beyond the 

 gum, and upon which those in the lower jaw strike when the mouth 

 is closed. The tongue is small, white ; the throat capacious, very 

 unlike the contracted gullet of the Eight A\Tiale. Mouth lined with 

 a pearly-white membrane, continuous at the lip, which is bordered 

 with the black external skin. Eyes small, with eyelids, the lower 

 one most moveable, placed a little behind and above the angle of the 

 gape, at the widest part of the head. Ears very small, without any 

 external appendage, a short distance behind the eyes. The swim- 

 ming-paws or fins are placed behind, not far from the angle of the 

 mouth ; they are not much used as organs of progression, but as 

 giving direction and balancing the body in sinking suddenly, and 

 occasionally in supporting their young. 



" The full-grown male of the largest size is about as follows : — 

 entire length 84 feet ; depth of head 8 or 9 feet ; breadth 5 or 6 feet ; 

 depth of body seldom exceeds 12 or 14 feet, so that the circumference 

 rarely exceeds 36 feet ; the fins about 6 feet long, and 3 feet broad ; 

 the tail or flukes 12 or 14 feet wide."- — Becde. 



Vertebrae 49. Cervical 7, the first free, the other six much com- 

 pressed, and anchylosed together ; dorsal 10, having the vertical 

 spinous processes inclined backward, and increasing in length from 

 the fii-st to the last. The ribs 10 . 10 : the first, ninth, and tenth 

 pairs have only one articulating surface to their proper vertebrae ; 

 the second, third, and fourth have two articulating surfaces; and 

 the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth have three. The ribs on the 

 left side larger in dimension than the corresponding ones on the left. 

 Sternum triangular, composed of three pairs of bones, the upper 

 pair larger, oblong, elongate, the second and third pairs smaller, nar- 

 rower behind (MacLeay, t. 1. f. 2). 



Humerus very short and tliick, nearly haK the length of the 

 scapula ; it expands very much at its carpal end. The radius and 

 the uhia both constricted in the middle, and of much the same form, 

 except that the globular olecranon process of the latter gives a 

 peculiar character to this last by its being very prominent as it 

 turns towards the thumb. The bones of the carpus not articulated 

 together, but imbedded in a mass of cartilage. Carpal bones 6 ; five 

 rounded, irregular, placed in a transverse row, one opposite each 

 finger ; the sixth thin, laminar, transverse. Metacarpal bones much 

 compressed, and scarcely to be distinguished from the phalangeal. 



