220 PLATANISTID.E. 



terminal. The ribs are flattish and somewhat angular, 14. 14: the 

 first rib is broad and Hat, and has but one articulating surface to 

 the transverse process of the first dorsal vertebra ; the seven follow- 

 ing pairs have each two articulating surfaces for each consecutive 

 two of the first seven vertebrae ; the next five pairs have only one 

 articulating surface for each rib. The ribs more or less arched. The 

 sternum composed of three pairs of bones, like Catodon australis ? ; 

 the middle pair united ? 



" The pectoral fin weak. Scapula thin, flat, smooth, with a thin 

 triangular acromion on the outer crest, and a thick, more solid cora- 

 coid apophysis on the inner ridge in the shape of a parallelogram. 

 The humerus compressed, concave behind, with a waved front edge. 

 Ulna distinct, like the radius, both nearly alike, only the ulna is 

 rather the thicker. 



" The carpal bones 7, viz. two linear transverse bones, and five of 

 a fiat, round, irregular shape ; a small hexagonal one, which is 

 placed between one of the transverse bones and the metacarpal of 

 the thumb. The transverse carpal is subtriangular, and placed at 

 the end of the radius. The other thin transverse bone is trapezoidal, 

 and between the base of the ulna and the two outer carpals. The 

 fore-finger has two large flat carpal bones between the corner of the 

 radius and the metacarpal of the fore-finger. The phalanges appear 

 gradually to diminish towards the points of the digits. The thumb 

 has two, the index finger six, the fourth finger four, and the little 

 finger two (or perhaps three) phalanges. 



" The pelvis is composed of five bones, the middle ones quadran- 

 gular, each longer than broad ; the outer ones are broad, sub(juad- 

 rangular, thickest in the middle of their inner side, where it is 

 articulated to the former." 



This work, I am informed by Dr. Kreff't of Sydney, was entirely 

 written by that eminent zoologist and entomologist Mr. W. Sharpe 

 MacLeay. It is only to be regretted that he did not publish it under 

 his own name. 



" The inhabitants of the island of Selvi, one of the Timor group, 

 are such expert fishermen, that they constantly take the species of 

 whale called Blaclcfish, which are often 20 feet long, and which 

 afford oil inferior only to the Spermaceti, having the same substance 

 in the head as the Sperm Whale. They do not boil the blubber, but 

 expose it to the sun in an inclined situation, with a ditch for the 

 bottom, into which the oil drains." — Moore, Notes on the Indian 

 Archipelago, quoted hy Bhjth. 



Family 4. PLATANISTID^. 



Head small, with a long produced beak ; forehead arched. Blower 

 linear, nearly parallel, in a line over the eyes. Pectoral broad, 

 truncated ; fingers 5. Dorsal fin none. Back keeled. Skull with the 

 sides of the maxilla elevated, forming a vaulted cavity over the 



