156 BAL.^NOPTERIDiE. 



in the axis. The lower process of the fifth very short. Ribs 15 pairs ; 

 the first with a simple head. Sternum small, nndcvelopcd, with 

 two broad lateral lobes at the anterior jiart, and a deep notch between 

 them on the front border, prolonged posteriorly into a handle-like 

 process; its entire length was 9", its breadth 10". Scapula 20" in 

 height, and 32" in breadth. Humerus 14" long, lladius 22" long." — 

 Floiver, P. Z. S. 1864, 409. 



" A fine cranium from the Jutland coast, in the Louvain Museum, 

 about 15' in length. It is rather narrow posteriorly in proportion 

 to its length ; and the nasal bones, though of the general form cha- 

 racteristic of the genus, are very narrow, and pointed at their hinder 

 ends."— iP/ower, P. Z. S. 18G4, 418. 



" A skull of a young specimen in the Lcydcn Museum, agreeing in 

 all its characters with P. antiquorum, Gray ; marked ' BaJcenojHera 

 Phi/salus, Mcr Sept.' Its length, from the condyles to the tip of 

 the beak in a straight line, is 10' 6". "—Flower, P. Z. S. 18G4, 397. 



Pallas, under the name of B. Phi/sahis (Zool. Ilosso-Asiat. 290), 

 described a specimen of this genus fomid in the North Sea in 1740. 

 It was 84 feet long ; the pectoral 9, the head 22 feet long, and the 

 tail 14 feet wide. He describes the skin as brown. 



The young male, 42 feet long, caught near the mouth of the Somme, 

 on the coast of France, described and figured by Ravin (Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. X. 26G. t. 11, xv. 337. t. 9), under the name of Balcenoptera 

 rostrata, from the form of the skull, seems to be a species of the 

 genus Physalus, probably P. antiquorum ; but the details of the ske- 

 leton have not been given. The tympanic bones are drawn of a very 

 small size {I. c. t. 9. f. 2 r, 3 r). It is described : — 



" Black above, beneath white. Pectoral black. Dorsal and caudal 

 with white scar on the edge. Baleen of the first part of the series 

 white ; of the rest blackish blue, the colour changing suddenly from 

 one to the other. 



" Inhab. coast of France, Somme {Bavin)." 



M. Ravin (Ann. Sci. Nat. n, s. xv. t. 9) figures the skull ; but 

 althoiigh it resembles generally Cuvier's figure above quoted, it is 

 shorter and broader in proportion, being only twice the length of the 

 width of the jaws in front of the orbit. 



Lacepede (Cetac. t. 5, 7) describes and figures a whale, stranded 

 near the Isle of Marg-uerite on 20th March 1797. It is described 

 as 00 feet long; distance from nose to pectoral 14^, thence to dorsal 

 10|, and from dorsal to caudal 8-|. But there must be some mistake, 

 as this accounts for only 34 feet. The pectorals are 5 feet long (that 

 is, only one-twelfth of the total length), and all black. Cuvier 

 figured the skull of this whale (Oss. Foss. t. 20. f. 5), and founded 

 on it his Rorqual de la Mediterranee. M. F. Cuvier (Cctac. 334) 

 regarded this as the type of his Balo'na nmsculus. The skull and 

 some of the bones are at Paris (see Gervais, sur la Baleine de la 

 Mediterranee, 8vo, 1862, Montpellier). 



M. Com])aiiyo describes a male Avhale cast ashore near St. Cyi)rien. 

 The entire length was 82 feet, t)f the head 16 feet ; and the i)ectoral 

 was 13 feet long. Vertebra) 61, viz. cervical 7, dorsal 14, lumbar 



