BALiENOPTERID^E. 113 



bited some years ago at Charing Cross ; and as this animal was 87 feet 

 in length (larger than the ordinary size attained by the common 

 Fin-Whale), he has given it the specific name of gigas. Unfortu- 

 nately this skeleton, having been shipped for the United States, is 

 no longer available for examination ; and the only descriptions and 

 drawings we have of it are not made with the scientific accuracy 

 necessary to settle the question. It certainly agrees in many important 

 points — the number of vertebrae (54, a few wanting from the end of 

 the tail) and of ribs (14), the double head of the first rib, and the 

 small broad sternum. Its generic identity is therefore undoubted. 



" One difficulty which arises in my mind is about the size. The 

 32'-long examples of Sihbaldius at Leyden and Brussels are, as I 

 have said, in the young stage ; but stiU the general condition of the 

 bones shows them to be by no means in the earliest period of youth. 

 A common Fin-Whale (Phgsah(S antiquorum) that I examined at 

 the Hague, 40' long, had the bones much softer, more spongy, and 

 incomi)lete at the ends of the processes than in either of these ; 

 whereupon I should a priori have said that the latter belonged to a 

 species which, when adult, was smaller than the common one. As far 

 as we know at present, the young of Fin-Whales are from one-fourth 

 to one-third of the length of the mother at the time of birth, which 

 would give a very early age to our specimens if derived from such 

 a parent as the Ostend Whale. As these speculations upon the size 

 and growth of Whales are, however, based upon very slight founda- 

 tion, I must still admit the possibility of the specific relationship of 

 the Ostend Whale with the representatives of Sihhahlius Jaticeps in 

 the museums of Berlin, Leyden, and Brussels." — Floiver, P. Z. S. 

 1864, 399, 400. 



The examination of the skeleton has shown that there are several 

 species found in the North Sea, charactei'ized by the bones of the 

 neck and by the external colour ; and I think there is little doubt 

 that, when we have had an opportunity of comparing the skeletons 

 of the Finner Whales found in other seas, especially of those in the 

 southern hemisphere, it will be seen that they are perfectly distinct 

 from those here described. 



Synopsis or the Gtenera. 



I. Dorsal fin low, broad. Pectoral fin very lony, with 4 very long fingers 

 of many phalanges. Vertehrce 55 or 60. Cervical vertehr<s often 

 anchyloseil. Lateral jyrocess of axis tardily ossified. Nenral canal 

 large, high, trianytdar. Pibs 14 or 15. Megapteriua, or Hunch- 

 backed Whales. 



MeCtAPTEra. Blade-bone without acromion or coracoid process. Body 

 of cervical vertebrfe subcircuhir. 



PoESCOPiA. Blade-bone with small coracoid process. Body of cervical 

 vertebrfe nearly square. 



EscHHiCHTius. Blade-bone with large coracoid process. Bodyof cer- 

 \-ical vertebrfB separate, small, roundish, oblong. The neural canal 

 very broad, high. 



I 



