1869.) OF THE COMMON FIN-WHALE. 607 
reached almost to the symphysis menti, and laterally they extended 
as far as the insertion of the pectoral fins. Counting from the pec- 
toral fin to the middle line on the exposed side, there were about 
twenty-six furrows; they were all widely distended. But all this 
part of the surface, as well as the abdomen, had been so much da- 
maged by the birds (as it was the part which floated uppermost) 
that it was impossible to make any satisfactory observations upon it. 
The penis was completely protruded, as it always appears to be in 
Whales that have been long dead, being probably forced from the 
sheath in which it naturally lies concealed by the pressure of the 
gases arising from decomposition accumulating within the abdominal 
cavity. The hinder edge of its base was 21 feet in front of the end 
of the tail, or 5 feet 6 inches in front of the hinder border of the 
dorsal fin. Its length was 6 feet 6 inches. Its diameter at the base 
1 foot, from which it gradually tapered to 1 inch at the apex. The 
orifice of the urethra was terminal, and surrounded by four distinct 
rounded lobes. The nipples were placed about 6 inches behind the 
root of the penis, and 2 inches apart; each was lodged in a groove, 
much compressed, ridged or keeled on the free edge, with the ante- 
rior border sloping gradually to the apex, and the posterior edge 
almost vertical, about | inch from before backwards at the base, and 
2 inch in height at the apex, and with a soft nodulated surface. 
I have not had any opportunity of examining any of the bones of 
this specimen; but I will add to this notice some observations upon 
the skeletons of three other Whales presumably of the same species 
which have been stranded on various parts of the south coast of 
England. 
1. This skeleton, the smallest of the three, was prepared from an 
animal taken at Margate in 1850, and was kept at that place until 
December 1864, when it was brought to London and exhibited in a 
waxwork show at Shoreditch as an additional Christmas attraction. 
After it had ceased to ‘ draw,’’ I purchased it from the proprietor ; 
and as it was too imperfect to mount for any museum, the bones 
have been divided between the Royal College of Surgeons and the 
Cambridge University. 
The animal was very nearly adult; the epiphyses were united to 
both ends of the humerus and the upper end of the radius and ulna, 
though still loose on the bodies of the dorsal vertebree. The ske- 
leton wanted the malar bones, the tympanics, the stylo-hyals, the 
pelvic bones, almost all the carpals and phalanges, many of the 
chevron bones, and the three or four last caudal vertebrae. The 
spines and transverse processes of the vertebrae were much broken. 
The entire length, the vertebrae being placed close together and 
the end of the tail missing, was 55 feet. Fifty-seven vertebrae were 
present. The second, third, fourth, and fifth cervical vertebrae have 
their upper and lower transverse processes united so as to form com- 
plete rings. The sixth has very short lower processes, very unequal 
in size on the two sides. In the seventh they are entirely absent. 
There are fifteen pairs of ribs; the first 46” long in a straight 
line from the tubercle to the inferior extremity, with a long capitular 
