122 CETACEAN GALLERY. 



species. This skeleton is believed to be the only one in any of the 

 European Museums. The whalebone is very short and of a yellow 

 colour. The two anterior ribs are fused together, and the sternum 

 is unusually long and narrow. 



Megaptera. In this group the head is of moderate size, and the 

 baleen-plates short and broad. The cervical vertebrae are free. 

 The most conspicuous distinguishing character is the immense 

 length of the pectoral fin, about one fourth of that of the entire 

 animal. On account of the low rounded form of the dorsal fin 3 

 they are commonly called " Humpbacks " by the whalers. The 

 skeleton exhibited, near the middle of the room, is that of a not 

 quite adult animal from Greenland. Behind it are a skull and some 

 bones of a full-sized specimen from the coast of California. There 

 is also at the further end of the room the skull of a young animal 

 from New Zealand. These specimens illustrate the wide geogra- 

 phical range of the members of the genus, and also the difficulty 

 of dividing them satisfactorily into species. As in the case of so 

 many other Cetacean genera, some zoologists maintain that the 

 animals inhabiting different seas must belong to different species, 

 and they have been named accordingly ; but if this is the case, 

 the characters by which they are to be distinguished from each 

 other have not yet been clearly pointed out : hence in this collec- 

 tion they are all called Megaptera boops, the specific name under 

 which they first appear in zoological literature. 



Baltenoptera. Head comparatively small and flat, pointed in 

 front. Body long and slender. Skin of throat plicated. A small 

 triangular, rather falcate, dorsal fin. Baleen short and coarse. 

 Cervical vertebrae free. Pectoral flipper small, narrow and pointed, 

 with but four fingers. This genus contains the various species of 

 Rorquals, Fin-Whales, Fin-backs, Finners or Razor-backs, as they 

 are variously called, some of which are found in almost every sea. 

 Among them is the most gigantic of all animals, Bal&noptera 

 sibbaldiij which attains the length of 80 feet, and is common in the 

 seas between Scotland and Norway. The skeleton suspended in 

 the Gallery, near the further end, on the left-hand or window side, 

 is that of a young animal, being only 52 feet in length. Almost 

 of equal colossal proportions is the Common Rorqual (Balcenoptera 

 musculus), found throughout the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 



