3. ESCHKICHTIUS. 131 



end, and 10 feet 7 inches distant from the tip of the beak, 4 feet 

 2 inches long, and 1 foot 2 inches wide : behind the vent, 7 feet 

 before tlie tail, and 3 feet from the vent, is a kind of white fin, and 

 the genital organs are 1 foot 3 inches before the vent. If this de- 

 scription and these measurements are correct, it must be a most 

 distinct species, if not a peculiar genus : the pectoral fins are nearly 

 in the middle of the body ; and I know of no whale with a fin behind 

 the vent beneath, and with the genital organs nearly under the 

 pectorals. The pectoral is almost one-fifth of the entii'e length. 



Schrenck (Amur-Lande, i. 192) mentions a whale called Keng, 

 wliich he refers to '' BaJti^noptera longimana, Rudolphi," as inhabit- 

 ing the south coast of the Ochotskian seas. 



Forster, in ' Cook's Voyage,' appears to have met with a species of 

 this genus between Terra del Fuego and Staten Island. He says, 

 " These huge animals lay on their backs, and with their long pectoral 

 fins beat the surface of the sea, which caused a great noise, equal to 

 the explosion of a swivel." 



Lesson (Tab. Reg. Anim. 202) gives the name of B. leiicopteron to 

 the " Humpback of the whalers in the high southern latitudes." 



Mitchell (Travels in Australia, ii. 241) speaks of a Hunchbacked 

 Whale which inhabits Portland Bay, Australia FcHx. 



This genus is also found in the seas of Java, for there is an im- 

 perfect skull, brought from that country by Professor Keinhardt, in 

 the Leyden Museum. — F. Japan. 24. 



In the Museum of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, there are portions 

 of a Whale skeleton, presented by Mr. Swinton, as recorded in the 

 ' Gleanings of Science,' ii. 70. They consist of a nearly perfect skidl, 

 a rib, an injured scapula, and 34 vertebrae. Mr. Blyth thinks this 

 species agrees vfith the Rorqual da Cap (Cuv. Oss. Foss. viii. 276. 

 t. 227. f. 1, 4). A Megapteron, according to Gray (see Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1847 ; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1847, 282).— BIgth's Reports. 



The Rorqual noueux, Hombr. & Jacq. Zool. Dumont d'Urville, t. 24 

 {Balcmioptera Astrolabio', Pucheran, Mag. Zool. 1854, and Arch. Na- 

 turg. 1855, 42), is probably a Humpback Whale. 



3. ESCHRICHTIUS. 



Dorsal fin ? Pectoral fin ? The lower jaw-bone 



rather compressed, with a very low, slightly developed coronoid 

 process. Cervical vertebrae free ; the second — ?, the third, fourth, 

 and sixth with the lateral processes elongate, and separate at the 

 end ; body small, thick, solid ; the canal of the spinal marrow very 

 wide, trigonal, and nearly as wide as the body of the vertebra, almost 

 as high as vsdde, with rounded angles. The blade-bone broader 

 than high, with an arched upper edge, and with a strongly developed 

 acromion and coracoid process. Breast-bone trigonal, rather longer 

 than wide ; front part arched out on the front edge, truncated at the 

 sides ; the hinder part at first suddenly tapering for haK its length, 

 then gradually tapering to a point behind. Vertebrae 60. Ribs 

 15.15; the first rib simple-headed ; the first, second, and third 



k2 



