FOSSIL WHALE. 163 



comparison of the fossil whale with the descriptions and figures in that work, it was found to resemble the 

 living rather than the extinct types, and that the osteology of the head was very like that of the Beluga 

 leucas, or the small northern White Whale.* 



" Having collected together all the bones and fragments of the fossil within my reach, I proceeded with 

 them to Cambridge, Mass., and submitted them to the inspection of Professor Agassiz, who confirmed the 

 opinion I had formed respecting them, and for two days very kindly lent me his aid, and his great skill and 

 knowledge of the subject, in their collocation and arrangement. Having, altogether, more than four-fifths 

 of the bones of the skeleton, he was able, from the number, position and size of these, to determine the 

 number, position and size of those which were missing, and thus to determine the size and form of the 

 whole animal. 



" The entire length of the head is 21.2 inches. The maxillary bone on the left side is mostly wanting, 

 but on the right side it is entire, so far as to embrace the alveolar margin, which is 6.85 inches in length, 

 and perforated for eight teeth. The corresponding alveolar margin of the lower jaw measures 5.5 inches, and 

 is perforated for seven teeth. Hence it appears that there were sixteen teeth in the upper jaw and fourteen 

 in the lower, making thirty in the whole. The teeth are all of one kind, being conical, with flat or rounded 

 crowns, much worn, but, in their substance, very dense and firm. They are from one to two inches in 

 length, with a diameter of half an inch. Only nine of the teeth were recovered, and none of these were in 

 their places when found ; but that they were in their places up to the time the bones were discovered, is 

 evident from the fact that while every other cavity in the bones was filled with clay, the alveoli were all 

 empty. 



" Of the vertebrae forty-one were secured, of which four were cervical, eleven dorsal, ten lumbar, and six- 

 teen caudal. Three cervical vertebras the first, fifth and sixth are evidently missing, which with the four 

 obtained make seven, the usual number. These vertebras are all free, not being soldered together, as in the 

 common dolphin, and some other cetaceans. 



" The second and twelfth dorsal vertebras are missing, the whole number being thirteen. The lumbar 

 vertebras amount to twelve, of which the sixth and twelfth are missing. These vertebrae have all the same 

 general form, but the lateral winged processes are much decayed and broken in some of them. The eleventh 

 and twelfth caudal vertebrae are missing, and perhaps a nineteenth and twentieth, making the probable 

 whole number twenty. From these statements, it will be seen that the whole number of vertebras in the 

 skeleton was fifty-two, eleven of which are missing. Two of the missing vertebrae were known to have 

 been taken away after the bones were discovered. Articulating surfaces, at the meeting of the caudal ver- 

 tebras, indicate five chevron bones, of which the fourth only is wanting. The total length of the vertebral 

 column, allowance being made for the missing vertebras, and seventeen inches for the aggregate thickness of 

 the fifty-one intervertebral cartilages, is one hundred and thirty-seven inches. Of this length the cervical ver- 

 tebras make ten inches, the dorsal forty, the lumbar forty-eight, and the caudal thirty-nine. The lumbar 

 vertebras are largest, having an average length of about four inches, with a diameter of three inches. The 

 total length of the animal, including the head and the caudal fin, must have been about one hundred and 

 sixty-eight inches, or fourteen feet. 



" The hyoid bone and the sternum are both large and strong, in proportion to the size of the skeleton. 

 The former measures 8.5 inches in a right line, from point to point, and the latter is fifteen inches long, 

 from three and a half to seven wide, and on an average about one inch thick. 



" The ribs are considerably decayed and broken. The longest entire rib measures just twenty-four inches 

 along the curve. The scapula and the ulna of the right side were recovered, but all the other bones of the 

 paddles are wanting. The height of the scapula is seven inches ; the length of the humerus five, and of 

 the forearm four inches. 



* Cuvier'n Ossemens Fossiles, Vol. V, page 291) and Plate XXII, Fig. 5 and 6, Paris edition, 1825. 



