5. PHTSALUS. 149 



In the skeleton from Plynioutli, iiroparcd by Mr. Gcrrard, now in 

 the Alexandra Park, the lateral processes of the second cervdcal are 

 large, produced, obliquely truncated, with a moderate-sized oblong 

 perforation, not half the length of the process, on a line with it, and 

 not more than one-third of the length of the lower edge ; of the third, 

 fourth, and fifth vertebrae ring-like, not quite so long as those of the 

 second vertebra, slender, thin, and weak ; the processes of the fifth 

 vertebra are the thickest and strongest, especially below ; the sixth 

 has upper processes only, which are very thin and slight ; in the 

 seventh they are like the sixth, but much thicker and larger, and 

 bent back so that the two processes are close together at the upper 

 edge ; the sixth vertebra has small short tubercles in the place of 

 the lower lateral process ; none are present in the seventh vertebra. 

 The bodies of the second and third cervical vertebrae are oblong, 

 transverse, much broader than high. 



The OS hj^oides elongate, transverse, broad in the middle, more 

 or less tapering at each end, with a deep wide notch in the middle 

 of the front edge, which has an elongate thick cylindrical process 

 on each side of it, and a slightly rounded scollop in the middle 

 of the hinder edge, with a slight prominence at each end of 

 it. The forearm-bone half as long again as the humerus. The 

 breast-bone is subtrifoliate, the ujiper part very broad, subtri- 

 gonal, with a slight broad notch in the middle of the upper sides, 

 and the hinder part more or less produced into a kind of broad flat 

 stem. The shoulder-blade with a large coracoid and acromion 

 process ; the upper edge arched, angle acute at each end, hinder end 

 produced. 



The skeleton of a specimen, taken at Margate in 1850, was ex- 

 hibited at Shoreditch in 186-4. It was not quite adidt, and not in a 

 good condition. 



Dr. P. Neill describes a male Fin- Whale stranded near Alloa in 

 the Frith of Forth, on the 23rd October 1808. It was 43 feet long. 

 The dorsal fin, called a, pilce by the whalers, was placed far down the 

 back, about 1 2 feet from the end of the tail, and nearly over the 

 vent. The lower jaw rather the longest, 14 feet long, and somewhat 

 wider than the upper. The tail was 10 feet wide. The blubber was 

 2 inches thick, firm in texture, not unlike the fat of pork. The 

 baleen dirty bluish. 



kSibbald's specimen came ashore near Bui'ntisland, 17th Nov. 1690, 

 0. S. ; it was 46 feet long. 



Dr. Walker mentions one from near Burntisland, 10th June 1761, 

 46 feet long (see Neill, Mem. Wern. Soc. i. 201). 



This species seems to be not uncommon, and most usually conies 

 to the Cornish coast in the winter. 



A female was found dead at sea, and towed into Plj-mouth, 27th 

 Sept. 1831. Length 79 feet {Cowh). Gullet found filled with a 

 large quantity of pilchards, by which it was supposed to have been 

 choked. 8aid to have visited the coast before. 



Plymouth, 1831, Dr. Moore (Loudon's Mag. N. H. i. n. s.). It 

 had frequented the Cornish coast a long time previously in pursuit 



