RUDOLPHI'S RORQUAL. 237 



then that it is a smaller whale than the Common Finback, though not so small as the Little 

 Piked Wliale. 



Skeleton. — According to Flower, Gray was mistaken in supposing that the skull was pro- 

 portionally very broad. Its form is in general Hke that of the other members of the genus. 

 The nasal bones are almost straight across at their anterior ends, shghtly longer at the middle, 

 and raised along the midline to a low ridge. The coronoid processes of the lower jaw are short 

 and obtusely triangular. The length of the skull of a 30-foot specimen was 6 feet 7 inches (2.00 

 meters) . The neck vertebrae are seven as usual, and in the skeleton at Leyden the five posterior 

 ones have the vertebrarterial canal incomplete where the lateral processes fail to unite at their 

 tips. In the Brussels skeleton, however, they are joined in the first, second, and third vertebrae. 

 The processes are of about equal length throughout except that in the sixth vertebra the lower 

 one is shorter than the upper. In this skeleton thirteen pairs of ribs are present but according to 

 Flower, a fourteenth pair of floating ribs has probably become lost. The first rib in this speci- 

 men had a bifid head, and articulated with the seventh cervical as well as with the first dorsal. 

 All the ribs had tubercular articulations, and the second, third, and fourth had in addition slen- 

 der capitular processes or heads which, however, did not articulate with the vertebral bodies. 

 The sternum was lozenge-shaped, 8 inches broad, and 4 inches in its lengthwise dimension. 



Andrews (1916) summarizes and corrects previous observations as to the number of bones 

 in the vertebral column. The normal formula he gives as 7 cer\dcals, 14 dorsals, 13 lumbars, 

 and 22 or 23 caudals, total 56 or 57. 



The skeleton of the hand has lately been investigated and figured by Kunze (1912). As 

 usual, there are two series of bones in the carpus : a proximal row consisting of ulnare, radiale, 

 and intermedium, and a distal row of two carpalia. The pisiform is also present at the external 

 side of the carpus. Kunze's figure (1912, p. 619) is apparently the first hitherto published 

 showing the carpus of this whale, though it does not differ essentially from that of the Common 

 Finback. The number of phalanges in the four digits is respectively 4, 6 or 7, 6 or 5, and 4, 

 beginning with the exterior digit. In foetuses, there seems to be indication of an eighth phalanx 

 in the longest digit (II) . 



The pelvic bones have been described and figured by Struthers (1893, p. 323, pi. 20, fig. 7) 

 from an immature individual taken at Orkney. These have a less pronounced pubic process 

 (if so it may be interpreted) than do those of the Common Finback. The total length of each 

 bone was about 7 inches of which the terminal cartilages composed 1.5 inches. The right 

 bone was broader than the left, and possessed a marked oval area corresponding to the place 

 where the acetabular cartilage lies in the Finback, about one-half inch long by one-third inch 

 wide. A notch is present on the external border, just anterior to the pubic process, corre- 

 sponding perhaps to the foramen sometimes seen in the pelvic bone of the Finback. Struthers 

 discovered no trace of a femur in his specimen. 



