40 CETACEA. 



and the third the middle of the tail ; when placed one after the 

 other so as to exhibit the parts of the skeleton in their proper 

 situation, the ends of the caravans were removed,, and the cer- 

 vical vertebrae, the lumbar vertebrae, and the caudal vertebrae 

 were suspended in their proper situation between or beyond the 

 caravans. The proprietor had placed a blade of Greenland whale- 

 bone (Balcena mysticetus) on one side and several of South Sea 

 whalebone (Baltena australis] on the other side of the upper jaw, 

 in the place of the true baleen of Balcenoptera. 



There is a nearly perfect skeleton of this species (which I have 

 lately visited in company with Professor Eschricht) exhibited at 

 Black-gang Chine, the Isle of Wight, which was caught in April 

 1842, near the Needles. It was, when first found, dark grey 

 above and whitish beneath. 



The baleen is slate-coloured with white streaks on the near 

 or inner side ; nearly black and with a few darker streaks near 

 the outer or straight side. It was 7b feet long. The skull is 16 

 feet 7 inches long, 5 feet wide at the notch, and the edge of the 

 beak from the notch is 12 feet long. The lower jaw 16 feet 9 

 inches ; the upper arm-bone 2 feet, and the larger fore-arm-bone 

 is 33 inches long. In this skeleton, the scapula and the chest- 

 bones are wrongly placed, and the bones of the carpus and finger ; 

 and the lower processes of the vertebrae, as well as some of the 

 smaller parts of the head, are deficient. There are 7 cervical 

 vertebrae ; the first, very broad, with a very large lateral process, 

 on each side pierced with a hole near the body ; the second is 

 higher than it ; and the three following have a ring-like or pierced 

 lateral process, which Professor Eschricht regards as one of the 

 best characters of the species. There are 14 thoracic vertebrae. 

 The ribs are long ; the first simple, shortish and broadish, the 

 rest almost of equal size and length, the last being very nearly 

 as long as the others. The lumbar vertebrae are 15, with con- 

 siderably thicker bodies than the others. Caudal vertebrae 18, 

 exclusive of those contained in the fin of the tail, which is pre- 

 served entire. 



Professor Eschricht has two heads of this species at Copen- 

 hagen from Greenland. There is a head and some vertebrae at 

 Paris, and some vertebrae at Berlin, and the St. Cyprian specimen, 

 which was at Lyons in 1835. 



Dr. Knox, under the name of Bala>na maximus borealis, Knox, 

 Cat. Prep. Whales, p. 5, and Edin. N. Phil. Journ. 1833, 181, no- 

 tices a specimen of a whale found off North Berwick which was 

 80 feet long, the head 23 feet, and the tail 20 feet wide from tip 

 to tip. He describes it as having 13 dorsal and 43 lumbar, sacral 

 and caudal vertebras (Edin. N. Phil. Journ. 1834, 198). 



The skeleton of this whale is now in the Zoological Gardens, 



