408 MR. W. H. FLOWER ON THE SKELETONS OF WHALES [Noy. 8, 
likely to throw much light upon the subject, here the case is different ; 
and, as far as can be made out from the descriptions and drawings 
given by Dubar of that skeleton, there are notable differences, as in 
the form of the atlas, of the first rib, of the stylo-hyoid, in the state- 
ment that the second and three following ribs have heads reaching 
the bodies of the vertebrze, and in the statement that the transverse 
processes of the third, fourth, and fifth cervical vertebree do not 
unite to form a complete hole as in the second, which last, however, 
would be of greater importance, if the figure did not throw some 
doubt upon its accuracy. 
On the whole I have no hesitation in rejecting the name of gigas 
for this Java specimen, and, on account chiefly of its peculiar habitat, 
have some difficulty in placing it with Jaticeps. The question can 
only be definitely solved when far more is known of the habits and 
wanderings of the Cetacea than at present. The tendency of modern 
naturalists is decidedly to the idea that the geographical range of 
each species is much more strictly limited than was formerly supposed. 
Even Eschricht, who at one time strongly held the opposite opinion, 
and maintained that some species were cosmopolitan, was, as Prof. 
Van Beneden informs me, decidedly changing his views before his 
lamented death. We have, however, here an important alternative : 
either a species of Whale found in the North Sea, between the North 
Cape and the south coast of England, is found also on the coast of 
Java, without being known (at present at least) in any intermediate 
locality, or, on the other hand, in the specimen which I now bring 
before the notice of this Society we have a species new to science. 
As I know that the latter opinion will be adopted by many cetclogists, 
I propose to call this specimen provisionally by the name of sch/egelit, 
in honour of my distinguished friend, by whose influence the speci- 
men has been made accessible to European naturalists, and who has 
himself made valuable contributions to this department of zoology *. 
The next specimen to be noted in the Leyden Museum is a skull 
of a very young Whale, of great interest as having also been brought 
from Java, by the late Dr. Reinwardt. It is labelled ‘* Balenoptera 
longimana,” and has in consequence been quoted in some of our 
most esteemed catalogues as evidence of the extensive geographical 
range of that species (Van Beneden, ‘ Faune Littorale de Belgique,’ 
p- 38, and, after him, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 208). The 
cranium is now in an extremely imperfect condition, the maxillaries, 
premaxillaries, and nasals being absent. There is, however, enough 
to show that it is not a Megaptera, but belongs to the subfamily Bale- 
nopterine, and probably, on account of the great width of the external 
part of the orbital process of the frontal bone, to the genus Sibbaldius. 
The lower jaw is 52! long, which would indicate an animal of about 
18 feet, perhaps a young individual of the species last described. 
* Mr. Blyth (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, xxviii.) has noticed a 
Whale, said to have been 84 feet long, cast ashore on Juggu or Amherst Islet 
(lat. 19° N.) in 1851, and of which some bones are preserved in the museum at 
Caleutta, under the name of Balenoptera indica. The description of the coro- 
noid process of the lower jaw indicates that it did not belong to the genus S7b- 
baldius, but was probably a Physalus. 
