191 



tained the breadth of 9 inches, whence it decreased to a rounded 

 point at the interior angles of the mouth. Here the baleen was 

 entirely resolved into white hair, which took its rise from the 

 gum, without the intervention of the quill-like rods of the anterior 

 extremity. 



The surface of the platės was longitudinally striated : their colour 

 for one-third of their breadth from the outer margin brown, some- 

 times in one broad shade, sometimes more or less banded lengthwise, 

 in either case leaving the interior surface of the platės of a yellowish- 

 white, tinged slightly with green, occasionally dashed with pale rose- 

 colour, with here and there a stripe of brown. From the outside no 

 colour but the white was visible, except at the snout, where the platės 

 and tufts, even to the outer margin, were in some places a dirty white, 

 in some almost black. 



The whole inner edges of the baleen were split up into coarse but 

 pliant white hair. 



The gum (" cheese " of the whalefisher) was from 2 to 4 inches 

 thick, between which and the bone of the jaw intervened a strong 

 callous bed of muscular substance, two-thirds of an inch thick. 



The tongue was above of a flesh colour, and beneath, where its 

 substance united with the lining of the pouch, of a leaden grey. It 

 had no edges, the colour being the only means of distinguishing its 

 upper from its under surface. The looseness of the tissue on its 

 lower side enabled the animal to sweep the whole under surface of 

 the baleen with the tip of the tongue, carrying any adhering food to 

 the throat. The actual tip was not free for more than 10 inches; 

 but, as when drawn back towards the gape, it was impossible to de- 

 fine the limits of the lower side of the tongue and the lining of the 

 pouch : it seemed to be of much greater length. When retracted the 

 tongue fiUed with its huge rounded mass the posterior cavity of the 

 mouth, the tip projecting upwards, and the substance of the under 

 side tightened from the base of the'tip to the point of the under jaw. 



The throat easily admitted the closed hand. 



The trunk joined the head with no perceptible line of union, and, 

 with the exception of a slight depression behind the spiracles, and 

 the protuberance of the dorsal fin, the outline preserved an even and 

 beautiful curve from head to tail. Beginning 2 feet before the dorsal 

 fin, a strong ridge passed along the back, gradually diminishing till 

 it reached the end of the vertebral column. A still bolder ventral 

 ridge commenced 10 feet from the tail, and terminated at the šame 

 point. 



The expansions of the tail were continued 2 or 3 feet along the 

 sides of the trunk, there passing away, and giving along with the 

 dorsal and ventral carinse a rhomboidal form to that part of the ani- 

 mal. These keels consisted entirely of a fatty tendinous substance, 

 each permeated through its entire length by strong round tendons 

 1 inch in diameter. On the removal of the ridges, the body beneath 

 became of the šame rounded form as the ręst of the trunk. 



The epidermis was -į^^^ of an inch thick, easily tom, and finely 

 striated, except on the fins and tail, and on the jaws, lips and such 



