14 PROFESSOR STRUTHERS. 



50-feet-long B. viusculus, but the much finer hairs of the 

 matting on the palatal aspect do not differ in thickness in these 

 two whales. 



15. Blow-Holes. — The length of the blow-holes is 11 inches ; 

 distance between hinder ends, 9 inches ; between fore ends, 3 

 inches. They are a little convex towards each other. The median 

 fissure has a depth of 1 inch at the middle. There is an eleva- 

 tion of the head here, rising about 3 inches, on the hinder slope 

 of which the blow-holes are situated. 



16. Eye, and Ear-Hole. — The eye is placed very close behind 

 and above the angle of the mouth. The ear-hole is 17 inches 

 behind the posterior canthus of the eyelids, and 2 to 3 inches 

 below the level of the eye (see fig. 5). The epidermis being 

 off, I could not ascertain whether there was any change of colour 

 here.^ The tissue immediately around the aperture is softer, 

 so that a shallow depression can be made by the end of the 

 finger. This will facilitate collapse of the meatus. The 

 aperture admits a rather small-sized uncut goose-quill. In 

 form it is ovoid antero-posteriorly, the anterior end sharp-edged, 

 the posterior and narrower end grooved, the groove prolonged 

 for about the same length as the foramen. This form of the 

 aperture of this mammalian vestige may be an adaptation to 

 forward swimming. Water in the meatus will be less disturbed. 

 The quill goes straight into the meatus, at right angles to the 

 axis of the body and head, firmly grasped, for 1 inch in the 

 right, for 2 inches in the left. 



17. Colour. — As it lay on the back, the day after it was 

 beached, exposed by the retiring tide, the whole carcase 

 appeared black, except the under surface of the tail-fin and of 

 the breast-fin, whose snow-white appearance formed a striking 

 contrast. The photographs taken on the same day show some 

 patches of white on the throat and chest, notably on the plait- 

 ings below the chin, as they turn in below the mandible, and a 

 few less abrupt streaks and smaller spots here and there along 

 the chest. I had the opportunity of examining the white marks 

 on the abdominal wall more carefully. As if bounding the 

 perinseum, there was on each side, 5 or 6 inches out from the 



' In my quite fresh 14J-feet-long B. rostrata, there was a white line leading 

 backwards from the ear-hole for 9 inches. 



