32 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Balcena australis, Desmoulius. 



The block of vertebroe, marked " Eight Whale of New Zealand," consisted of the 

 seven cervical and first dorsal vertebrae aukylosed into one mass. They were from 

 an animal captured at the peninsula of Kaipara. 



The bones were broken in places and generally friable, with the roots of plants in the inter- 

 vertebral foramina, presenting the appearance of having long been exposed to the weather. 

 The fusion of the cervical vertebrae with each other was very complete, for not only were 

 the bodies ankylosed into a solid mass, but also the spines and laminse. The fusion of 

 the first dorsal by its spine and laminae with the corresponding parts of the seventh 

 cervical was also com^^lete, so that the sjaines and laminae formed a massive crest of 

 bone which sloped upwards and backwards. 



The body of the first dorsal was, however, connected, through an irregular band of 

 ossification by only its inferior border, with the corresponding part of the seventh 

 cervical ; for the bodies generally of these two vertebrae had evidently been separated in 

 the usual way by an intervertebral disc. The left transverse process of the atlas was 

 broken, but when entire the vertebra must have had a transverse diameter of at least 

 29 inches. Its width across the anterior articular surfaces was 14 inches, and these 

 surfaces were separated from each other by a non-articular depression, varying in width 

 from 2 to 3 inches. The length of the cervical part of the block, along the line of the 

 spines, was 14 inches, along the inferior surface of the bodies, 11^ inches, when the body 

 of the first dorsal was included the length was 15 inches. 



The superior transverse processes were present in all the cervicals. Those of the 

 first and second vertebrae were massive, and projected outwards for several inches ; the 

 remainder were much more slender, and in the case of the third to the sixth compara- 

 tively short, whilst that of the seventh was again longer, and curved outwards and 

 forwards. In the case of the anterior six cervicals, these processes were fused into a 

 continuous bar of bone at their outer ends, whilst the superior transverse process of the 

 seventh was not ankylosed on the right side, but on the left it was united to the trans- 

 verse process of the first dorsal vertebra. The inferior transverse processes of the second 

 and third vertebrae were massive and partially ankjdosed, that of the fourth was much 

 more slender, and fused with that of the third. They were absent in the fifth, sixth, 

 and seventh. In no instance did the superior and inferior transverse processes unite 

 externally so as to bound a " vertebrarterial " foramen. 



The transverse process of the first dorsal vertebra was in series with the superior 

 transverse processes of the cervicals, and like them projected from the side of the neural 

 arch. It was 11 inches long, and curved forwards and outwards external to the superior 

 transverse processes of the more posterior cervicals, so that its free end was close to the 

 transverse process of the atlas. A faint tubercle projecting from the side of the body of 

 this vertebra probably represented a rudimentary, inferior transverse process. 



