1864.] IN THE MUSEUMS OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 413 
A bone which, from its general appearance, texture, and surface, I 
presume must be the sternum, especially as there was no other which 
could have represented this portion of the skeleton, presents most 
anomalous characters. It is very flat on both surfaces, a little more 
than 1" in thickness, of an irregularly oval form, being larger on one 
side than the other, and slightly produced at what I suppose would 
be the posterior border, and notched in the anterior. It is only 5?" 
in its greatest diameter (transverse), and 4" in the other direction. 
Certainly the condition of the edges gave evidence of a bone incom- 
pletely ossified; but its very small size, especially in the antero- 
posterior direction, for a Physalus of the dimensions of the one 
under examination, is very remarkable. 
The body of the hyoid I was unable to find; but the stylo-hyals 
are slightly curved, compressed, with a thick convex border, and a 
thinner concave border, rather larger at one end than the other; 14! 
in length, 47" in greatest width, and 2" in thickness—presenting, in 
fact, the usual form seen in the genus Physalus. The scapula and 
arm-bones had also the ordinary form: the former is 21" in height, 
and 353" in breadth; the acromium 73" long, and 33" in breadth ; 
the coracoid 23! long ; the glenoid fossa 103" by 7". The humerus 
is 17" long, 73" in longest diameter, and 20''in circumference at the 
middle. The radius is 27" long, 6! in breadth at the upper end, 
43! at the middle and 73" below, and 3" thick at the middle. The 
ulna is 25" long, 7" across at the top, 33!’ at the middle (and 2" in 
thickness), and 53" at the lower end. The circumference of the two 
bones together at their middle is 203". The metacarpal bones are 
long for the size of the animal, being respectively, beginning at the 
radial side, 6", 8’, 63", and 43’; whereas the same bones in the 
adult Common Fin-Whale in the Antwerp Zoological Gardens are 
43", 6", 6", and 43", and in the specimen in the Alexandra Park 
42", 6", 5", 32. The phalanges are long and rather different in 
number to those in the specimens of the Common Fin-Whale which 
I have examined, being 4, 5, 5, and 3 in the several digits, com- 
mencing on the radial side with No. II. In the Antwerp Physalus 
they are 2, 7, 6, and 3. But, as in both cases they have been arti- 
ficially articulated, much importance cannot be attached to these 
numbers. 
This skeleton differs in some respects from any other that I have 
seen, nor can I identify it with any published description sufficiently 
detailed for exact comparison. ‘That it belongs to the genus Physalus 
as above defined there is little question. The only difficulty is in 
the form of the sternum. It must be remembered that the individual 
was young, and the bone, being slow of development, is subject to 
considerable variation in form during growth, and also, when fully 
grown, to great individual diversities of form. It scarcely seems 
advisable, therefore, on account of this one specimen to modify the 
generic diagnosis as regards this bone, though such a course might 
be necessary if a very small oval transversely elongated sternum were 
found characteristic of the adult animals belonging to the species. 
I think that there can be no question that this character, together 
