206 DR. J. E. GRAY ON BRITISH CETACEA. [May 24, 
Professor Eschricht, who seems to have formed a theory that the 
number of species of Whales was very limited, states that he could not 
find any distinction in the skeleton of the Cape specimen in the Paris 
Museum to separate it as a species from the Greenland examples. 
I cannot make any observation as regards the Paris skeleton ; but it 
is said to have been brought by Lalande from the Cape, and is pro- 
bably from those seas. 
M. Van Beneden, in his ‘‘ Researches on the Cetacea of Belgium,” 
also regards the Cape species as the same as the Greenland one (see 
Nouv. Mém, Acad. Roy. Bruxelles, xxxii. 38, 1861). 
Fig. 3. 
The fifth Cervical Vertebra of Megaptera lalandii. 
The cervical vertebree which are in the British Museum (see fig. 3), 
received direct from the Cape, present several most important cha- 
racters, especially the square form of the body of the vertebra, which 
afford most striking specific distinctions; but perhaps Professor 
Eschricht may not have been able to examine the form of this part, 
as the skeleton in the Paris Museum is articulated, and the articular 
surface of the cervical vertebree not shown. According to Cuvier, it 
differs from the Greenland Megaptera in the following particulars :— 
Cervical vertebra (Cuy. t. 26. f. 19); axis distinct (t. 26. f. 19); 
second and third cervicals united by spinous apophyses (t. 26. f. 20) ; 
the fourth (t. 26. f. 21), fifth, sixth, and seventh free. Blade-bone 
short, much broader than high, with a small acromion (Cuv. t. 26. 
f. 9). Humerus short, thick; the forearm-bones elongated ; hand 
