610 ON FOUR SPECIMENS OF THE COMMON FIN-WHALE. [Dec. 9, 
judging by the size of individual bones ; for as the skeleton was very 
imperfectly articulated I could form no accurate estimate of its 
actual length. It was therefore above the average size of Whales 
of this species, and, when compared with the one at the Rosherville 
Gardens, shows that there may be a considerable amount of variation 
in this respect. I have, unfortunately, not been able to learn the 
sex to which it belonged. It was perfectly adult, all the epiphyses 
of the vertebree having united. 
The skeleton is far from complete. One of the lachrymals and 
jugals are missing from the skull; and one of the stylo-hyals, many 
of the chevron bones, and nearly all the bones of both hands are 
wanting. The bones that remain are, however, at present in excel- 
lent condition, free from grease, and the processes of vertebree are 
generally unbroken. The terminal caudal vertebree are contained 
within the dried tail-fin, so that their number cannot be ascertained, 
but they are probably all present. Besides these there are fifty-four 
vertebree. The axis has very large transverse processes, containing 
a small oval foramen near its base. The transverse processes of the 
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth form complete rings on both sides ; 
the seventh has only an upper transverse process. There are fourteen 
pairs of ribs present, the last well developed and articulating with 
the transverse process of the corresponding vertebra. There may 
have been a rudimentary fifteenth, as in the Alexandra-Park skeleton ; 
but the transverse process does not show any enlargement at the 
end. The upper end of the first rib has a mere rudiment of a capi- 
tular process; the second and third have moderately long necks ; 
in the fourth this process is almost obsolete. 
The sternum resembles in general form that of the Alexandra-Park 
Whale, but the posterior process is longer, thicker at the base, and 
more gradually tapering. The whole length is, therefore, exactly 
equal to the breadth (24!); in ‘all other Whales of this species that 
I have examined, the sternum has been somewhat broader than long. 
The scapula is 59" in breadth, and 37" in height; the radius 37! 
in length. I find by my notes that I estimated the length of the 
cranium at 16’; but it was in a position which rendered exact mea- 
surement impossible ; Dr. Gray gives it as 16! 7", and 5! wide at the 
notch. 
It will be seen that the main differences between these three ske- 
letons, besides size, are in the extent of the development of the lower 
transverse process of the sixth cervical vertebra, in the presence or 
absence of capitular process to the first rib, and in the development 
of the fifteenth rib. These, with other minor differences, will show 
(especially when compared with the descriptions already published 
of other specimens from the same locality*) how large an amount of 
variation, quite independently of age, may exist in different indivi- 
duals which may with all reasonable probability be assumed to have 
belonged to a single species. 
* For that in the Antwerp Zoological Gardens, see P. Z. 8. 1864, p. 414. 
The skeleton of the specimen taken in the Thames in 1859, and now in the 
Rosherville Gardens, is described by Dr. Murie, P. Z. 8. 1865, p. 206. 
