U2 THE RIBS. [CHAP. 



to the inferior extremity of the vertebral rib ; at least such 

 is their condition in the foetus of Balcena mysticetus, as 

 described by Eschricht and Reinhardt. 



Balanoptera rostrata, the smallest of the Whalebone 

 Whales, has but n pairs of ribs, Megaptera longimana 14 

 pairs, the Greenland Right Whale (Balcena mysticetus) 

 usually 13, and the larger Fin Whales (Balcenoptera musculns 

 and sibbaldt) 15, and occasionally 16, the highest number 

 known in any Cetacean. In these last it not unfrequently 

 happens that the hindermost rib, having only the middle or 

 lower portion developed, is separated by a wide interval 

 from the vertebral column a very rare condition, as in most 

 other cases where the hinder ribs are rudimentary the part 

 in immediate connection with the vertebra remains. 



The first rib presents a very anomalous condition in some 

 Whalebone Whales, being apparently double, probably owing 

 to the coalescence of a supplemental cervical rib with the 

 ordinary first thoracic rib. In some species (as Bahcnoptera 

 borealis] this appears to be of almost constant occurrence ; in 

 others it is occasional. 1 



In the Odontoceti or Toothed-whales, as the Common Dol 

 phiri and Porpoise, the ribs (usually 12 or 13 pairs) are long 

 and slender. The first four or five have tubercles, by which 

 they articulate with the transverse process of the thoracic 

 vertebrae, and long necks and heads, reaching to the side of 

 the antecedent vertebra, rear the junction of the body and 

 the arch (see Fig. 20, p. 59). The posterior ribs, however, 

 lose the neck, and are solely articulated by the tubercle to 

 the transverse process. There are usually 7 pairs of rather 

 short, straight, but strongly ossified sternal ribs nnd often 

 small intermediate ribs, sometimes distinctly ossified. 



1 See Professor Turner " On the so-called Two-headed Ribs in Whales 

 and in Man." (Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, May 1871.) 



