400 MR. W.H. FLOWER ON THE SKELETONS OF WHALES [Noyv. 8, 
It is seen by this that the individual differences among specimens 
of Physalus and Sibbaldius are considerable, the proportionate breadth 
of skull ranging in the first case between 44 and 52, and of the beak 
between 18 and 21, and in the second genus between 46 and 51, 
and 19 and 22; and these differences do not seem at all to be regu- 
lated by age. A slight allowance must certainly be made for errors 
arising from the difficulty of measuring straight lines with exactness, 
especially single handed, upon these large irregular objects. On the 
whole, however, the specimens of Sibbaldius have no advantage on 
the score of breadth. The examples of Balenoptera rostrata are 
slightly broader than the others in proportion to their length. 
Van Beneden is of opinion that this specimen, as well as that at 
Berlin, is referable to the same species as the very large female 
Whale taken near Ostend in 1827, the skeleton of which was exhi- 
bited some years ago at Charing Cross; and as this animal was 87 feet 
in length (larger than the ordinary size attained by the Common 
Fin- Whale), he has given it the specific name of gigas. Unfortu- 
nately this skeleton is no longer available for examination* ; and the 
only descriptions and drawings we have of it are not made with the 
scientific accuracy necessary to settle the question. It certainly 
agrees in many important poimts—the number of vertebrae (54, a few 
wanting from the end of the tail) and of ribs (14), the double head 
of the first rib, and the small broad sternum. Its generic identity 
is therefore undoubted. 
One difficulty which arises in my mind is about the size. The 
32'-long examples of Sibba/dius at Leyden and Brussels are, as i 
have said, in the young stage; but still the general condition of the 
bones shows them to be by no means in the earliest period of youth. 
A Common Fin-Whale (Physalus antiquorum) that I examined at 
the Hague, 40! long, had the bones much softer, more spongy, and 
incomplete at the ends of the processes than in either of these ; 
whereupon I should @ priori have said that the latter belonged to a 
species which, when adult, was smaller than the common one. As 
as far as we know at present, the young of Fin- Whales are from one- 
fourth to one-third of the length of the mother at the time of birth, 
which would give a very early age to our specimens if derived from 
such a parent as the Ostend Whale. As these speculations upon the 
size and growth of Whales are, however, based upon very slight foun- 
dation, I must still admit the possibility of the specific relationship of 
the Ostend Whale with the representatives of Sibbaldius laticeps in 
the Museum of Berlin, Leyden, and Brussels. 
During the present year the Leyden Museum has received the 
skeleton of a Fin-Whale taken on the north-west coast of the island 
of Java, and of which I am, with Professor Schlegel’s permission, 
enabled to give the following description. According to the state- 
ment received with the specimen, Whales are of rare occurrence upon 
that coast, the present one having been an object of great curiosity 
to the natives. 
* Tt was shipped for the United States ; perhaps some naturalist in that country 
may be able to discover whether it is still in existence. 
