7. SIBBALBITJS. 177 



sternum : upper part broad, three-lobed, with a linear elongate hinder 

 lobe (Dnhar, t. ). (In ScharfF's figure it is represented as shield- 

 like, with four nearly square rounded lobes.) The first rib is tri- 

 gonal, rather short, curved, and very broad, and with a rather deep 

 notch at the sternal end (as broad as one-third the length of the 

 outer edge). (Dubar, t. 8. f. 1 (8 feet long).) The second rib slender, 

 subcylindi'ical, with a rather long subcyHndrical process on the 

 inside, just below the condyle {Dubar, t. 8. f. 2). The last lib 

 slender, subcylindrical {Dubar, t. 8. f. 3). The blade-bone with a 

 large coracoid process and acromion, the former broad, flat, rather 

 bent up at the end {Dubar, t. 10). The humerus very short and 

 thick, not longer than broad. The radius and ulna nearly twice as 

 long as the humerus, the ulna with a long flat olecranon process. 

 The fingers 4, slender, tapering ; the second and third longest and 

 nearly equally long, of 7 joints ; the fourth shorter, of 5 ; the first 

 shortest, of 4 joints, nearly half the length of the second {Dubar, 

 t. 11). 



Lilljeborg describes the " dorsal fin as very smaU, situated far be- 

 hind and placed on a thick prominence " (?. c. p. 57), and, according to 

 Dubar's measurement, it was three-fourths the length from the nose. 

 " Prom the calculations made by M. le Baron Cuvier and the 

 Professor of the Jardin du Roi, this enormous cetaceous animal must 

 have lived nine or ten centuries." — H. Mather's account of the Ostend 

 Whale, 1831, 8vo. 



Mr. YarreU (Proe. Zool. Soc. 1840, p. 11) notices a female of 

 this genus under the name of " Balcenoptera Boops." It was 

 stranded at Charmouth, Dorsetshire, on Feb. 5, 1840. It had no 

 warts about the lips ; back black; underside white ; pupil oval, with- 

 out any eyelashes. Length 41 feet. Pectoral fin 5^ feet long, base 

 10|^ feet from tip of nose, and 1^ foot wide. Dorsal small, conical, 

 11 feet in advance of the tail. Skeleton 40 feet long, head 10 feet. 

 Vertebrae 60, viz. 7 cervical, 15 dorsal, 16 lumbar, 15 caudal, and 

 with 7 caudal bones. Eibs 14/14 ; the fii'st double-headed, and at- 

 tached to the first two vertebrae ; each of the other ribs is attached 

 to a single vertebra, and has a single head. The dorsal vertebrae ex- 

 ceed the ribs by one. " The subcutaneous layers of fat varied in 

 thickness from 3 to 5 inches." " In other details the skeleton agreed 

 with Dewhurst's description of the ' Ostend Whale.' " 



" Head, back, tail, and outside of the pectoral fins black ; inside 

 of the pectoral fins, throat, breast, and belly beautiful white ; inside 

 of the under jaw black ; tongue, palate, and the S2)aces intervening 

 between the reefs on the belly pink. The under jaw the widest, and 

 projecting 9 inches beyond the upper one ; end of both jaws rounded. 

 The muzzle longer and more attenuated than in Balcena. The spi- 

 racles longitudinal, like slits or fissures, nearly meeting in front, and 

 gradually diverging behind to a distance of about 3 inches. Baleen 

 bluish black and yellowish white. Female 42 feet long, weighing 

 25 tons. Blubber varied in thickness from 3 to 5 inches ; yielded 

 three hogsheads of oil." — Siveeting, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1840, p. 342. 

 The accounts in the ' Mag. of Nat. Hist.' and in the ' Proe. Zool. 



