258 Mr. ALpERSON on a Whale of the Spermaceti Tribe. 
Its commencement, at what may be termed the snout, was 
very abrupt, increasing in magnitude posteriorly, as far as the 
junction of the atlas with the os occipitis. 
_ No measurement, that I could hear of, was taken in this part, 
and it is the more to be regretted, as it was by far the most pro- 
minent part of the animal. 
There was a considerable contraction behind the head, cor- 
responding to the cervical vertibre. A small* portion of the 
spear or tooth of the sword-fish, about 5 inches in length, was 
found enveloped in the adipose cellular membrane, near the 
ridge of the back, anteriorly to the rudimentary dorsal fin; there 
appeared too, near this same place, a wound, a fistulous-like 
opening in the cutis; supposed by the labourers to have been 
made by a harpoon. 
Examination of the internal parts. 
The interior of the head+ contained, on the right side, a cavity 
or sac, or several sacs, holding spermaceti; the left was occupied 
by the breathing tube, and nearly all the surrounding and in- 
termediate parts by long tendons. 
- The most posterior part of this mass, filling up the large basin, 
formed by the bones of the cranium, as depicted in Plate XI, Fig. 2 
contained a large cavity, lined posteriorly with a membrane, in 
color yellowish white, and in structure cellular; the convex sur- 
faces of the cells being towards the cavity, and about an inch in 
diameter. On being cut into, all the cells appeared to commu- 
nicate with each other. The structure of the lining membrane of 
the anterior wall was very different; it consisted of transverse 
* This is in the possesion of Mr. Hickney of Ridgemont, one of the Society of Friends, 
aud a great agriculturist. 
+ Still exterior to the cranium, 
