52 PROFESSOR STRUTHERS. 



t 



fibrous bands. It may seem stretching comparison too far, but 

 if the forms which I figured of the femur in the Greenland 

 Right- Whale (loc. cit, Plate XIV.) are looked at, it will be 

 seen that these parts may be compared to the head, neck, and 

 trochanter, the shaft represented only by the tapering anterior 

 end. 



The femur has no articular connection with the pelvic bone, 

 joined to it only by ligaments posteriorly, 1J inch in length, 

 allowing it to play loosely on the pelvic bone internal to and in 

 front of the promontory. The anterior portion (beak) of the 

 pelvic bone for a couple of inches in front of the promontory is 

 concave on this aspect where the femur crosses it, the beak 

 directed forwards and inwards, the femur forwards and outwards. 



19. LIGAMENTS, OTHER FIBROUS STRUCTURES, AND MUSCLES 



CONNECTED WITH THE PELVIC BONE AND THE FEMUR. Space 

 will allow me to give here only a short account of the soft parts 

 met with in the dissection. The muscles are very different from 

 those which I figured in the male Greenland Right- Whale (loc. 

 cit, Plate XVI.), this in part resulting from the much greater 

 development of the femur and the presence of a rudimentary 

 tibia in the latter. The arrangement of the soft parts in 

 Megaptera corresponds pretty closely to that in B. musculus, an 

 account of which, with more complete illustrations, I hope to 

 publish soon. Meanwhile I give the figures (figs. 15 and 16) 

 showing the arrangement in Megaptera, and if these figures be 

 referred to the following short notes of these parts may be 

 understood. These figures are reduced to Jth, from full-sized 

 drawings which I made as the dissection proceeded. The chief 

 point of interest was to ascertain to what extent function could 

 explain the presence of so very rudimentary a structure as this 

 representation of the femur in Megaptera. 



Posterior Connections of the Pelvic Bone. Passing across 

 between the posterior ends of the pelvic bones is the great 

 interpelvic ligament (a.a., figs. 15 and 16). Attached for 

 1J inch to the bone, and about J inch thick. It ties the pelvic 

 bones together posteriorly, and supports the crura penis, which 

 are involved in its tissue anteriorly, and entirely rest on it. 

 Behind, it attaches the anterior part of the levator ani muscle 

 (6, fig. 15), and more externally the inner part of the caudal 



