ANATOMY OF MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. 13 



sloping backwards. The vertical measurement of the symphysis 

 and cut- water together is 21 inches. 



14. The Whalebone. — The largest plates are 20 inches in 

 length. At the front for 3^ inches there are no plates, only 

 about ^-inch-thick bundles at the gum, breaking up into hairs, 

 but the two sides quite meet at the mesial line. The first plate 

 has, on the outside, 2 inches of plate proper and 2 of fringe. 

 Entire length of the range, 8 feet 2 inches at the top, at the 

 fringe 9 feet. The following is the length of the plates, in 

 inches, at different parts : — At 2 feet from the front, 11^; at 

 4 feet, 7 ; at 6 feet, 20 ; at 7 feet, the same ; at 8 feet, 10 inches. 

 The range ends behind in short bundles with fringe. The 

 length of the hairy fringe below, along the range, is, at 6 inches 

 from the front, about 2 inches ; at midway back, about 3 ; at 

 the longest plates, 5 ; behind this the fringe shortens to 4 inches. 

 The backward obliquity of the fringe is greater than that of the 

 plates. The most anterior plates are nearly vertical ; when the 

 middle is reached the slope backwards is equal to the breadth 

 of nine of the plates as they appear externally. At 20 inches 

 from the back the plates are nearly vertical ; then they become 

 vertical, and at the very back seem to slope a little forwards. 

 The greatest breadth of the longest plates is 5 inches. Breadth 

 of roof of mouth between the whalebone ranges is, at 1 foot 

 from the front of the whalebone, 6^ inches; at 2 feet back, 8 

 inches ; at 3^ feet back, 9 inches. 



In colour, the whalebone on the outside was black, except 

 along the front 12 inches where it was partly white, mottled, 

 but differing in this respect on the right and left sides. On the 

 left jaw here, at 6 inches from the mesial line, fifteen plates are 

 quite white on their anterior half but black on the palatal 

 half. Some near these, again, have the anterior edge black 

 and the rest of their surfaces white. Viewed from the palatal 

 aspect, the whole matting of hairs was whitish. The words in 

 my note-book are " white, dirty-white, or yellow-white." Now, 

 in 1887, after three years' exposure, though washed clean, that 

 description could not apply. The colour of the hairy matting 

 now is dirty-brown mixed with brown-black. The hairs are 

 fully 4 inches in length, some 6 inches. The hairs of the fringe 

 are thick and stiff, like bristles, compared with those of my 



