1864.] IN THE MUSEUMS OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 399 
processes of the cervical vertebree have all (that is, the first five) very 
large holes. If this is strictly correct (that is, if the holes are com- 
pletely surrounded by bone), it indicates a more advanced state of 
ossification than in the Leyden specimen—a circumstance, of which 
the peculiarity is somewhat diminished by the fact that the skeleton 
of a Whale of the same species, and of almost exactly the same size, 
in the Brussels Museum is in a condition intermediate between the 
two, the processes of the second and third vertebree being completely 
united, but not those of the fourth and fifth. In calling his speci- 
men Balena rostrata, Rudolphi was acting upon the idea, then 
prevalent, of the specific unity of many of the northern Fin- Whales 
now known to be distinct. Dr. Gray seems to have been the first 
to point out that it differed from all Whales which had been pre- 
viously described with anything like definite accuracy, and gave it 
the name of ‘ Rudolphi’s Finner Whale,’ Balenoptera laticeps 
(Zoology of the Erebus and Terror, 1846); this name therefore has 
the right of priority for the species. Unfortunately it is anything but 
expressive of the character of the species, the head not being broader 
than in other Fin-Whales, as the following table, compiled chiefly 
from my own measurements, will show. 
In the first three columns are given the actual length of the cra- 
nium, greatest breadth (at the squamosals behind the orbit), and 
breadth across the middle of the beak, in inches ; and in the last two, 
the proportionate breadth of the skull and beak to the total length, 
the latter being reckoned at 100. 
Proportion to 
Length | Breadth | Breadth length. 
of of OU Sito La 
cranium. | cranium.| beak. |Breadth | Breadth} 
of 
skull. | beak. 
Physalus antiquorum. 
Adult AMEWEr pies. sfo's)s:d vleis « oJeivte 184 96 33 52 18 
ALO al ised WIOUVAIN & ate Bie stelece ole» sicher 179 78 32 44 18 
Adult. Alexandra Park.......... 186 86 36 46 19 
Adult. Rosherville Gardens...... 168 75 344 | 45 20 
Wigane.* Weyden- oj. sles aes ces 126 60 26 48 21 
; apes Mus. R. Coll. Surg. ....} 111 56 223 | 50 20 
Ip 
"Utrecht. (Mus. Lidth. de Jeude) ..} 118 60 32 51 27 
Sibbaldius. 
Adult. Ostend. (Approximation z 
from Dubar’s measurements). . | 256 118 eis ae 
Adolescent. From Java, in Ley- 116 57 22 49 19 
Gere MiB i (- oiareiat lola yajeisia oie: 
Young. Leyden .....-.-e.+s00-- 79 40 16 51 20 
Young. Brussels .............. 80 38 15 48 19 
Young. Berlin. (Approximation re 
from Rudolphi’s figure) ...... \ 8 36 18 46 
Balenoptera rostrata. 
Adolescent. Brussels..........-- 63 34. 138 54 21 
Adolescent. Mus. R. Coll. Surg. .. 65 35 15 54 23 
Young. Mus. R. Coll. Surg....... 48 24 9 50 20 
