THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. sy 
It appears, therefore, that in European specimens the number of ribs varies from 14 
to 16 pairs, and in American specimens, 15 to 16 pairs. 
With the modifications indicated above, the various European and American 
formule will stand as follows: 
BALA2NOPTERA PHYSALUS (L.). 
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN. VERTEBRAL FORMULA, REVISED. 
Author or Museum. Locality. Date. |C.|D.| L. | Ca. | Total. Remarks. 
EUROPEAN. 
Flower Viieland Id. 1851 |7|]15|13 |27 62 
* Katwijk 1841 |7|15|14 |24 |60 
Falmouth | 1863 |7|15|14 |26 |62 
Flower and Gray Isle of Wight 1842 |7|15|15 |26 |63 |8 caudals added for the 
number concealed in 
the flukes. 
Van Beneden Borselaer | 1869 |7|15|14 |25 61 
Lilljeborg Coast of Norway | .... |7|15|15 |25 |62 
Heddle Laman Id. 1856 | 7|15| —4\o— |62 ‘““ Absolutely correct ”’ 
Struthers Nairn | 1884 ]7|r5\15 |25 |62 
Delage Langrune | 1885 |7|14| 15 |26 |62 
Fischer St. Vigor 1847 |7|15|15 \25 |62 
i" St. Cyprien 1828 | 7|14}15 |24 +|60 + (+ 2 = 62) 
Menge Danzig 1874 |7|15|14 |24 |60 
AMERICAN, 
U.S. N. M. 16045 | Cape Cod, Mass. |1876? |7 |15) 13/23 +/58-+ (+ 3 = 61) 
Albany Mus. 4 Fs 1880 |7|15| 14/26 |62 
Rochester Provincetown, “ neo ees) svilles  |lec 
Cambridge Mus. x By 1880 |7|16| 14|26 63 
Boston Mus. Gloucester “ 1870 | 7|16| 13/27 |63 
Phila. Mus, Sinepuxent Bay, Md. |1868-9/ 7}..| 15].. ts Type of B. tectirostris. 
U.S. Nat. Mus. Newfoundland Igor |7|16} 14]25 |62 Foetus. 
The most frequent formule for the cervical, dorsal, and lumbar vertebre of 
European specimens shown by this revised table are: 7,15, 14, and 7,15,15. A 
comparison with American specimens can scarcely be made with advantage as 
there are but six of these with complete formule as against eleven European speci- 
mens. The formule of two of the American specimens, however, agree with one of the 
two most frequent European formule above cited. In two other cases the Ameri- 
ean formula is 7,16,14. This might be considered as of some importance were it 
not that sixteen dorsals are indicated in two European specimens, as already noted 
on p. 186. A fifth American formula—7, 15, 13—is repeated in the Vlieland 
Id. skeleton, according to the interpretation of Flower. 
On the whole, the facts regarding the vertebral formula do not appear to 
point to specific distinctness between European and American specimens, but the 
matter cannot be pronounced upon with entire satisfaction until more American 
specimens have been examined. 
In Struthers’s Nairn (Scotland) specimen the 2d and 3d pairs of ribs had 
eapitular processes, or beaks; in Van Beneden’s Borselaer specimen, the 1st and 
2d pairs; in Heddle’s Laman Id. specimen, the 2d, 3d, and 4th pairs. Other Euro- 
pean specimens present still different combinations. In the American specimen in 
