256 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 
The points in the vertebral column at which the several processes and fora- 
mina appear or disappear furnish data of considerable importance in the compari- 
son of species. These data are brought together in the following table: 
BALAENA GLACIALIS BONNATERRE. AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN. VERTEBRAL CHARACTERS. 
oi a a 
= i - ee. Z na 
j Se aS = aes Ge fl ; 
is le = PRU: Sei pee hte Meh Z 
See eee eee OMe USS WEES I ReCse lic eel Ge 
5) Be WN ee || Ee SS See lS | Bee line) 
woe | 4a | Se ep tates ortaais) (ES || ee) [et oe 
2S eel Mra ||| tee Ca Wey ey eet an ty rice Ce 
Rel eh ue os eV ° a 8G gO Ce ai a 2 
= a ‘bo alte oy ay ts SI Aa 2) ou |-8 
a ra 2 es o¥ a = o v id 9) 
on. wo oo =) S| of ais Srey |)xe) irae | dats 
ao Es ad aos (ste, ae | eo |e SS) San | owe 
oA aS Soy, =O) 0) Co ma or Cine) eae potacs 
SIE |S SiS Ls eos loss as lass | See ose 
First vertebra with perfor- 
ated transverse process, 36' 38 39 38 38 38 367 Keres 38 By] 
NO}. sccvaueite sia Gloteens seroraters 
Transverse processes end | aS ae Ae 43 4t Me > Aa Ne 
on vertebra No........ J a 
Neural spine ends on ver- 
fein SF 43 45 46 45 44 45 45 44 44 43 
It is much to be regretted that so few data relative to European specimens 
have been recorded. In so far as they are available for comparison, the agreement 
with corresponding data from American specimens is very close. 
CHEVRON BONES. 
The chevron bones are figured or described in the case of one or two European 
skeletons only. Graells’s figure of the Guetaria skeleton (52) shows 12 chevrons, 
the first smaller than the second and somewhat pointed. Gasco states that the 
Taranto skeleton has 10 chevrons, but that some were probably lost. 
Of the American skeletons, those in the Field Columbian Museum and in the 
Museum of Comparative Zoédlogy, have 9 chevrons each. In both cases the first is 
attached to the posterior end of what is really the second caudal vertebra, so that 
the skeletons appear to have one more lumbar vertebra than they should. In the 
skeleton in the former museum the first chevron in position is small, but in the 
skeleton in Cambridge it is the largest of the series. In this case it is therefore 
probably the second chevron. The Charleston skeleton has 10 chevrons, but there 
were probably more originally. 
RIBS. 
The number of pairs of ribs is 14 in all European and American specimens, 
except the San Sebastian skeleton of 1854, and in this also, although 13 pairs are 
* Right side only. * Left side only. * Or 42d. 
