M'K.A. 



VCKA. 



who!.- spouting apjianitus towards the nme *ide, and expUin, (.'uvier 

 obserrea, the fact obMrred by mariner*, namely, that the Cachalot* 

 throw their spouting* toward* the left aide. 



The auxiliaries do not join each other in front of the semicircular 

 wall ; and leare expmctl between them an irregular and considerable 

 part of the frontal Done, which goes behind them, and directing itself 

 laterally, proceed* to form, an in the Dolphins, the principal part of 

 the ceiling of the orbit. The maxillary make* its anterior angle, in 

 front of which the border of the maxillary ha* a deep notch, and at 

 iU upper lurface, opposite to that notch, is the great hole which 

 occupies the place of the suborbital, but which, Cuvier remarks, should 

 here be called supra-orbital The posterior angle of the orbit in 

 occupied by the ]>oiut of the zygomata- apophysis of the temporal bone ; 

 but it does not quite join the postorbital apophysis of the frontal 

 bone, so that the edge of the orbit is open at this point The lower 

 part of the orbit is formed by a stout and cylindrical jugal bone, 

 whose anterior part dilates itself into on oblong lamina which 

 partially closes the orbit in front. The temporal fossa is very deep, 

 rounded, but not distinguished by a creet from the rest of the occiput : 

 a little of the parietal bone is perceptible between the temporal and 

 the frontal bones. The squamous portion of the temporal bone is 

 not extensive, its zygomatic portion is in the shape of a stout and 

 short cone ; proceeding to the orbit it alone forms the arch as in the 

 Dolphins. The occipital bone is vertical and forms the whole posterior 



Skull of Cachalot, seen from below. 



Skull of Cachalot, tten oblique. y from above 



Profile of Skull of Cachalot and under j:iw. 



Kkull of Cachalot, aeen from behind. 



surface of the semicircular wall which surrounds the Hkull behind. 

 The occipital hole is nearly at tin- lower third of it' height. Tim 

 lower bor ler of the o.->-ipital 1. me H divided on each side l>y a 

 notch into two lobes, the external of which represents llio mastoid 

 apophysis. 



The lower part of the skull, allowing for the difference ..f proportion 

 of the parts, much resembles the lower portion of thnt >!' the 1 Mpliius. 

 The region behind the nostrils is very much shortened in comparison 

 of that which is anterior to them, and of which tin- enormous i. 

 forms the greatest portion. The result of this conformation in that 

 the basilory and posterior sphenoid are very short : that, the ,,nt. n--r 

 sphenoid, as in the Large-Muzzled Dolphins, only shows itw-li ).,].. in 

 a notch of the vomer, and appears very little towards the temple 

 between the palatine, the pterygoidean, and the temporal ola of tin- 

 posterior sphenoid; and that the pterygoideans extend on their 

 lateral and posterior part, nearly to the posterior portion of the 

 basilary bone. The jugal bone on its anterior part lines below a 

 great portion of the vault of the orbit, and proceeds to touch 1* hind 

 the points of the two sphenoids. Their anterior border is not double, 

 as in the Dolphins. The bone of the ear bean a great resemblance to 

 that of the Dolphins, but the tympanic bone is less elongated and less 

 lobated backwards. 



Of the cervical vertebne of the Cachalot the atlas alone is distinct ; 

 the six others are anchylosed into a single mass by the bodies and 

 spinous apophyses ; but the number may be made out by the sides 

 where very delicate lamina.- interpose between the holes where the 

 nerves pass out There ore 14 pairs of ribs and 14 dorsal vertebra 

 (perhaps a fifteenth), and 35 others. The dorsal vertebras have 

 their transverse apophyses short; their anterior articular ,-p..- 

 physes are turned inwards, and embrace the posterior, win. h 

 look outwards. The spinous processes are less elevated nnd 

 wide from before backwards. The two last carry the ribs only on 

 the extremity of their transverse apophyses, and not on a facet of 

 their body. On the succeeding vertebra) the spinous apophyses rise, 

 become oblique, and wider at their summit than at their base. The 

 orticulars ascend gradually to their anterior borders, as in the 

 Dolphins : the spinous apophyses shortening by degress, the articular 

 apophyses arrive nt their summit on the tail, and finally disappear. 

 The spinous apophyses disappear also on the last caudal vertebrae. 

 The transverse apophyses are at first simple tubercles of the articular 

 apophyses: they do not take the form of distinct apophysus till tin- 

 three last dorsal vertebra;, and afterwards continue on "the lumbar 

 and caudal, but always remaining of moderate length, and not dilating 

 at their extremity. The lower part of the body of the vert 

 counting from the fourth lumbar, is Strongly carinated. The 

 V-shaped bones do not commence before the twenty-first after the 

 dorsal vertebra;. They are at first rather long, and more so than the 

 spinous apophyses to which they correspond; but afterward* they 

 are a little shortened. The vertebra: which carry them him tln-ir 

 lower cnriuation divided into two truncated ridges, each at tin- two 

 extremities, so as to form facets for the V-shaped bones, which always 

 articulate between two vertebnc. The caudal vertebra still remain 

 very large up to the six or seven lost, which diminish rapidly, losing 

 their different eminences : thus the greatest portion of the spine is 

 nearly much of a size. 



The shoulder-blade is concave externally, convex on the side of the 

 ribs, and narrower than in the other Cetaceans: its spinal bo i 

 not two-thirds of its height Its anterior border becomes double 

 below the middle of its height, and gives off from its external ridfie a 

 great acromion, more projecting anteriorly than the shoulder-blade is 

 at this point, and enlarged at its extremity. The internal border 

 gives off near the articular head a corocoid apophysis. which projects 

 less than the acromion, and terminates in a jKiint. The hiimenis is 

 very short and stout, and has at its anterior border a crest, terminated 

 towards the lower part by a hook which represents the deltoidal 

 crest The ulna is anchylosed early to the huments, even before the 

 cpiphysis of this last is united. The olocrauian apophysis projects 

 very much, and curves towards the wrist ('Ossemens Kossiles.') 



Balamida, or Whalebone Whales. The skull of the Rorqual 

 (Haliruoptrra) is more approximated to that of the Dolphins than 

 the skull of the Jlalnim; ] .r.>|ierly BO called. The in \illary 



bones are disposed below, in form of a reversed roof or a keel, to the 

 two sides of which the baleen, or whalebone, is attached. The vomer 

 is shown between them in nearly the mesial line of the keel. Above, 

 the twiiinteriuaxillariex, placed parallel between the two maxillarics, 

 i. ,-,, i..-t\\.-,-n 'hem i M mi ipaoa, which i* eotitiruid above, or 

 rather backwards, with the very argt aperture of the nostrils, which 

 is in the form of an elongated oval; nnd, contrary to the 

 Cetaceans, preserves, as in the whole of the /fafenur, a symmetrical 

 form. The nasal bones, which ore short, but notched , 

 anteriorly, and not ill form of tubercles, form the upper border of this 

 a|>ertiire' Tin- maxillary does not cover the frontal bone, except by 

 ,\ apupliysis on the two sides of the nasal bones. The whole 

 jHirtion of the frontal bom- which goes on each side to form the orbit, 

 lit the parietal bones cover the upper part of the tem- 

 poral fossa to the sides of the apophysis of the maxillary bone, which 

 -lniw itself betwei n the frontal and the bones of the no.-e. The 

 ances between th ivan the mi. I. II. of tin- 



frontal tn near the bones of the nose ; so that at the base .>t ti- 

 the frontal does not show itself externally. Tin-re are t 



crusts projecting greatly outwards, i ineneiiu: at the , i.!.- ot ' the 



ml between which the skull in Hat. or even slightly concave, 

 u. -I descends slowly towards the occipital hole, which is at the 



