188 MR. W. H. FLOWER ON BAL^NOPTERA CAROLIN.E. [Mar, 12, 



certainty ; and it is on this subject that I propose to address a few 

 remarks to the Society. The author has evidently taken pains to 

 compare his specimen with most of the more or less accurate descrip- 

 tions of Fin-Whales previously published, and has come to the con- 

 clusion that it belongs to a species unknown to science, and has ac- 

 cordingly designated it by a new specific name, Balcenoptera caro- 



lince*. 



That it was not the common Fin-Whale (Physalus antiquorum, 

 Gray, Pterobalcena communis, Esch., and BaJcenoptera musculus, 

 auct.) there could be no doubt, although belonging to the same 

 genus. The possibility of its being of the same species as the whale 

 of which the skeleton is preserved in the Museum at Hull, and on 

 which Dr. Gray founded his Physalus sibbaldii (P. Z. S. 1847, p. 92), 

 did not escape the author's noticef. Not having had access to the 

 more recent volumes of the ' Proceedings ' of this Society, he had 

 only the original very brief description upon which to base his judg- 

 ment — a description from which I also failed to recognize the species 

 when I found an example of it in the museum of the late Professor 

 Lidth de Jeude at Utrecht, and redescribed it under the name of 

 Physalus latirostris (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 410)t. 



After an examination of the Hull skeleton in 1865, its identity or 

 close affinity with the last-named specimen became apparent, and 

 the characters in which these two skeletons agreed, and by which 

 they could be distinguished from P. antiquorum, were pointed out 

 (P. Z. S. 1865, p. 473). In nearly all of the special characteristics 

 of P. sibbaldii the whale described by Malm agrees. 



I may particularly mention the breadth of the middle of the rostral 

 part of the skull, which, as compared with the entire length of the 

 cranium, is in the Hull Whale as 26 to 100, in the Utrecht Whale 

 as 27 to 100, in Malm's as 26'4 to 100, while in six specimens of 

 P. antiquorum it varies between 18 and 21 to 100. Another im- 

 portant character is the extremely rudimentary size and simple oval 

 form of the sternum, in which Malm's Whale agrees perfectly with 

 the Utrecht skeleton, and differs completely from all known examples 

 of P. antiquorum. A third striking difference between P. sibbaldii 

 and P. antiquorum is the greater length, relatively and absolutely, 

 of the metacarpals and phalanges ; in this character the new speci- 

 men corresponds exactly with the others. Among other characters 

 in which a similar correspondence exists are the form of the nasal 

 bones, of the heads of the anterior ribs, of the spinous process of the 

 axis, and the uniform dark colour of the baleen. 



* Being dedicated " a la femme, tendreraent cherie et hautement appreciee par 

 nous, a laquelle nous sommes uni par les liens de mariage." 



t Malm, speaking of this skeleton, says, " Si n^anmoins il devait appartenir a 

 la meme espece de noire exemplaire, nous ne voudrions pas pourtant adopter la 

 denomination de sibbaldii, cette denomination ayant deja ete en 1808 employee 

 par Neill (Trans. Wern. Soc. vol. i. p. 201) pour un autre baleinoptere." I think 

 this must be a mistake, as 1 am unable to find any such denomination used by 

 Neill in the paper referred to. 



1 This skeleton is now in the British Museum. 



