14 



F.R.SS.L. and E., Professeur Emerite de Physique et de Phi- 

 losophique, a TAcademie de Geneve. — From the Author. 

 A variety of Specimens of Minerals from the Coast and Interior 

 of Ceylon. — From Dr Sibbalcl. 



The following communications were laid before the So- 

 ciety : — 



1. Observations on the Anatomy of the Rorqual (a 

 Whalebone Whale of the largest magnitude), drawn 

 up from the dissection of a specimen found dead off 

 North Berwick. By Robert Knox, M.D., F.R.S.Ed. 



This paper, composed chiefly of anatomical details regarding the 

 anatomical structure of the Rorqual, scarcely admits of abridge- 

 ment. The author has described the skeleton of the cavity for 

 receiving the brain, and. the mechanism of the larynx, at greatest 

 length. The entire length of the whale, measured by a straight 

 line, drawn on the sand from the nose to the middle part of the tail, 

 and making a slight allowance for the curved position in which the 

 animal lay, was 80 feet. Length of the head 23 feet. The 

 girth of the carcass at the pectoral extremities (though the animal 

 had been ten days on the beach, and was much collapsed) 34 feet. 

 Breadth of the tail from tip to tip 20 feet. The author describes 

 the appearance of the mouth, lined with whalebone, as very sur- 

 prising. The whole surface of the palatal plates of the superior 

 maxillary bones, each extending to 14 feet in length, was covered 

 with a mass of what appeared to be well-teased baked hair, of a 

 clear and shining black. This was the whalebone, arranged in 

 the most regular manner, and composed of many thousand plates; 

 the number as seen in proflle, and which are the largest plates, 

 amounted to upwards of 650. It weighed nearly two tons while 

 soft. The whole skeleton weighed nearly thirty-two tons, and 

 was removed to Edinburgh with much difficulty. The weight of 

 the brain, calculated by Sir William Hamilton's method, from the 

 capacity of the cranium, must have been about fifty-four lbs. 



The larynx is quite simple, and totally unlike that of the Dol- 

 phin and Porpoise. The nostrils are filled by two enormous car- 

 tilaginous masses, acted on by muscles occupying the centre of 

 the superior maxillary bones. When the animal breathes, they are 

 withdrawn sideways to admit of the passage of air. This extra- 



