138 KAL^NOPTERID-S. 



1. Benedenia Knoxii. 



Balsenoptera antiquorum, junior, Gray, Cat. Osfeol. Spec. 142. 

 Physalus (Rorqualus) ]5oops, Gray,' P. Z. S. 1847, 91 j Cat. Cetac. 



41, 1850. 

 Benedenia Knoxii, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, 212. f. 8, 8 a, 8 b. 



The lower jaw with a distinct, low, long impression ; coronoid 

 process as high as half the height of the lower jaw-bone. Cervical 

 vertebrae all free ; the upper lateral pi'ocesses bent down ; the lower 

 ones ascendant at the end, with a more or less acute angle on the 

 lower edge near the base. The second cervical vertebra moderately 

 thick; the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh rather thin, and 

 all nearly of the same thickness. The upper lateral pi'ocesses of the 

 third and fourth very slightly bent back at the end ; of the fifth 

 similar, but nearly straight ; of the sixth and seventh broader and 

 stronger to the end, and rather bent forwards towards the head at 

 the end. The lower lateral processes of the third, fourth, and fifth 

 vertebrae compressed, high, nearly similar, and nearly equally strong, 

 with an obscure angular prominence on the lower edge near the base ; 

 of the sixth vertebra not so long, high, and compressed at the base, 

 ■ tapering at the end, and with a decided angular projection on the 

 lower edge, where the end bends up. The seventh vertebra without 

 any lower lateral process on either side. The breast-bone broad 

 above, with an arched upper edge, narrow and rather produced below, 

 with concave sides, and without any central perforation. The front 

 (first, second, and third) ribs thin, compressed, dilated at the end ; 

 the first with a short, broad, rounded, the second with a larger, 

 slender, produced process on the inner side. 



The skull is 108 inches long and 54 broad at the broadest part of 

 the brain-case, 34 at the base, and 25 in the middle of the upper 

 jaw. The lower jaw is 118 inches long. 



a. Skeleton of animal taken on the coast of Wales and towed into 

 Liverpool in 1846. 



The length is 38 feet ; the head is 9 feet long ; the vertebrae are 

 60 in number, and there are 15 pairs of simple ribs. 



The specimen here described was mentioned in the papers of the 

 day as a Spermaceti Whale ! 



This whale, or some of the same genus, has also probablj* been 

 caught on the coasts of France and Spain. M. Van Beneden, having 

 met with skeletons of whales, one at Baj'onne and the other at 

 Abbeville, which he considered the young of Physalus antiquorum, 

 observes that, in both, the two apophyses of the axis were not yet 

 united ; the ribs, he observes, are wanting (Nouv. Mem. Acad. Roy. 

 Bruxelles, xxii. 37). 



I am aware that Eschricht and Reinhardt (Essay on the Northern 

 Whale) seem to doubt the distinctness of this sjiecies. Unfortunately 

 I do not understand Danish sufiiciently to quite make out what is 

 their objection ; but I feel that, excellent as is their essay on the 

 animal which they describe, some part of their argument would be 

 much modified if they had been able to examine a larger collection 



