Dr. J. E. Gray on a new Whalebone Whale. 



495 



trigonal, rather longer than wide ; front part broad, arched out in 

 front, broadly truncated at the sides ; the hinder part at first suddenly 

 tapering, for half its length, and then gradually tapering to a point 

 behind. 



The body of the cervical vertebra of E. robustus from Babbacombe 

 is very thick, and of a nearly uniform thickness ; front and hinder sur- 

 faces nearly flat ; the sides are nearly straight, the lower one being 

 the widest and most arched out. The upper and lower lateral pro- 

 cesses are strong ; the upper one subtrigonal, slightly bent down, 

 and nearly on a level with the articulating surfaces of the body ; the 

 lower one rather compressed above, broader and somewhat flattened 

 on the lower edge. The width of the body 7g, the height 6 inches. 

 The upper processes 3f , and the lower 4h inches long ; but they are 

 evidently broken and sea-worn at the end. 



Vertebra of Eschrichtius robustus. 



This vertebra appears to be either the fourth or fifth cervical, as 

 the lateral processes are nearly on the same plane as the articulating 

 surface ; while in the anterior or posterior cervicals they are usually 

 either bent forwards or backwards. It differs from other cervical 

 vertebrse in the squareness of its form, the straightness of the sides, 

 the smallness of the size, and the very great and equal thickness of 

 the body. It is evidently the bone of an aclult animal, as the epi- 

 physes are completely united to the body of the vertebra. 



The body of the vertebra is nearly as wide and thick as that of 

 the corresponding one in M. longimana (width of body 9, height 7, 

 width of neural arch 5| inches in widest part), at the same time 

 that the space between the bases of the neural arch is nearly \\ inch 

 wider, and the lateral processes are very much thicker and more 

 developed than in the vertebra of M. longimana. 



It differs in the same characters, but in a greater degree, from 

 the corresponding cervical vertebra of Physalus (width of body 11, 

 height 7, width of neural arch 5| inches) ; for in that genus the body 

 of the vertebra is thin and transversely more oblong, and the canal 

 of the neural arch not so broad, compared with the width of the 

 body of the vertebra. 



