POSSTLE RORQUALS, ETC- 151 



% small species of shark, and innumerable shells 

 surrounded it, especially a small variety of oyster, 

 many of which were attached to the left side of the 

 vertebrae, lying uppermost The regular attachment 

 of these oysters is well worthy of consideration, as it 

 goes to show that they must have been fixed to their 

 position while alive, and consequently, that the ske- 

 leton had long lain at the bottom of the ocean. 



The head is six feet long, and the vertebrae 

 occupied a space of fifteen feet, giving twenty-one 

 feet for the whole kngth of the skeleton. Ac- 

 cording to Cuvier, the form of the head presents, at 

 one and the same time, all the characters of a new 

 sub-genus and of a distinct species. The other 

 bones agree with the indications supplied by the 

 cranium. It had twelve pair of ribs, the largest of 

 which, along its convexity, was three feet seven 

 inches ; the vertebrae were forty-one in number. In 

 the Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. this species is denomi- 

 nated Balcena Cuvieri by M. Desmoulins. 



M. Cortesi discovered another skeleton in 1816, 

 in the same kind of strata, and in a neighbouring 

 valley. It was not in such good preservation, and 

 could not so easily be disengaged from the surround- 

 ing rock. Its head was only four feet long, and 

 the total length twelve feet, five inches. It was 

 situated at a lower level than the other, at 1200 

 feet under the summit of Monte Pulgnasco, and 

 1400 feet under that of Monte Grogo, the two 

 nearest hills. This has been designated, by the 

 authority last quoted, B. CortesiL 



