184 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NOETH ATLANTIC. 



BALMNOPTERA MUSCULUS (L.). NEW JERSEY AND ICELAND. SKULL. 



The principal cranial characters of B. mmculus, the broad maxillae and thick, 

 obtuse nasals, are found in the Ocean City whale. The nasal bones were not in 

 the skull when I examined it in 1900, but they are described by Cope as follows: 

 "The nasal bones have a parallelogrammic superior outline, but are very convex in 

 the fore-and-aft direction, the surface descending forward. They are flat posteri- 

 orly ; at the middle the adjacent edges are raised, but at the distal end the external 

 edges are raised, so that the superior surface is concave in the transverse direction " 

 (31). It will be observed that this agrees with the excellent figure of the nasals 

 published by Reinhardt (75, 187). This figure is one-ninth natural size. The two 

 nasals together are shown to be 7.9 in. wide at the proximal end, and 9.25 in. wide 

 at the distal end. The nasals in a cranium at the Newfoundland station were 10 in. 

 wide at the proximal end and 10.75 in. wide at the distal end. They are figured 

 in pi. 7, fig. 10. In Hunter's Riigen Id. specimen they measured 6.9 in. at the prox- 

 imal end and 7 in. at the distal end. 



The breadth of one of the maxillae at the middle of its length, compared with the 

 length of the same bone, is 12.7 % in the Iceland whale (Reinhardt), 12.8 % in the 

 Hull whale (Flower), and 13.5 % in the Ocean City whale. Other measurements 

 of the Ocean City whale are as follows : 



BAL&NOPTERA MUSCULUS (L.). OCEAN CITY, N. J., OCTOBER 1891. 



Length of skull, straight 14 ft. 7^ in. 1 



Greatest breadth, squamosal 7 " 



Breadth of orbital process of frontal at distal end o " 



Length of rostrum, straight 9 ' 7 J 



Breadth of rostrum at middle, curved i " 



Length of mandible, straight 15 



curved 17 



Depth ' at middle. i 



Greatest breadth of axis ; 3 



Depth of centrum of axis o 



Greatest breadth of ist dorsal 2 



Depth of centrum of " " o 



Greatest breadth of ist lumbar 3 



Depth of centrum of " " o 



Greatest breadth of i st caudal 3 



Depth of centrum of " " i 



Greatest breadth of scapula 4 i i ' 



depth " 2 6 



Length of radius, without epiphyses. . 28!' 



" " ulna " 2 6 " 



Breadth of radius at distal end o 10 ' 



" ulna " " " , 08' 



2 



i 



i 



o 



10 



10 



1 Estimated. Add 8J in. for premaxillae. 

 3 Least. The greatest is 18 in. 



' Without premaxillae. ' The greatest = 34^ in. 

 ' Breadth of maxilla only. 



