148 Dr. J. E. Gray on a new Finner Whale from Formosa. 



rather inclines to the conclusion that Saurospondylus was an 

 Iguanoid Lizard, hardly separable from the Serpents, than that 

 it indicates a Cretaceous Ophidian. So classed, it is the type of 

 a new family. 



XVII. — Notice of a new Finner Whale from Formosa. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Swinhoe has kindly sent me some bones of a Finner Whale 

 which was cast ashore on the coast of Formosa. 



The cervical vertebrae show that it is quite distinct from any 

 Whale the bones of which have previously come under my 

 examination. 



It agrees with the smaller Finner, Balcenoptera rostrata of 

 Europe, in the second and third cervical vertebrse being united, 

 while in all the other true Finners known they are free ; and 

 also in the subcircular form of the front part of the neural canal. 



I am therefore inclined to refer it provisionally to the genus 

 Balcenoptera as restricted in my paper (Proc. Zool. Soc. May 24, 

 1864) ; but I think it probable that, when we know the entire 

 number of the vertebras and other details of the skeleton, it will 

 prove to be a distinct form. 



The Whale may be named Balcenoptera Swinhoei. 



The second cervical vertebra with large, broad, truncated, 

 lateral processes, with a large, oblong, subcentral perforation ; 

 the lateral processes are each two-thirds of the transverse dia- 

 meter of the articulating surface of the body of the vertebra. 



The third cervical united to the second by the anchylosis of 

 the neural arches ; the body thin, oblong, transverse, broader 

 than high ; the lateral processes slender, truncated at the end, 

 not so long as the transverse diameter of the body, curved to- 

 wards each other at the end, but not forming a ring. 



The rest of the cervical vertebrse free. 



The sixth or seventh cervical with a thin body, and a slender, 

 nearly straight upper lateral process, and only a very short 

 tubercle on each side below. 



The neural cavity of the second cervical vertebra subcircular, 

 rather less high than broad, and not quite so wide as half the 

 diameter of the front side of the body. 



The neural cavity of the third cervical vertebra oblong, trans- 

 verse, rounded above, as wide as half the transverse diameter of 

 the body, and about one-third broader than high. 



The bones are nearly the same size as the similar bones in the 

 Physalus antiquorum, which is between 60 and 70 feet long when 

 alive ; they therefore belong to an animal at least three times as 

 large as the Balcenoptera rostrata of Europe. 



