PROFESSOR OWEN ON INDIAN CETACEA. 45 
the twentieth (or forty-first from the skull), leaving ten, perhaps eleven, terminal 
vertebree represented by depressed centrums, gradually diminishing to the last. The 
seven cervicals are anchylosed: the diapophyses distinguish the atlas and axis, the former 
of which vertebre does not retain, as in Physeter, its separate condition; the fifth, sixth, 
and seventh are lamelliform, from extreme anteroposterior compression. The dorsal spines 
progressively, but very gradually, gain in height to the last; beyond which they again, 
and more rapidly, shorten to the base of the tail, disappearing in the fortieth vertebra 
from the skull. ‘The metapophysis begs to project above the prozygapophysis in the 
fifth dorsal, and supersedes that process in the articulation of the neural arches in the 
seventh or eighth dorsal. The four anterior pairs of ribs directly join the sternum, 
which consists of three sternebers, each more or less completely divided at the middle 
line into two bones. ‘The first rib is broad, flat, and angularly bent, articulated by the 
tubercle to the first dorsal diapophysis, and by a ligament representing the head to the 
centrum of the seventh cervical: its connate sternal portion articulates with the antero- 
external angle of the manubrium. The second and six following ribs have both head 
and tubercle, the former abutting against the interspace of their own and antecedent 
centrums; the tubercle of the rib is attached to the diapophysis of its own vertebra: 
the second rib, less broad but one-fourth longer than the first, has a short, partly 
ossified cartilage, which joins the interspace between the first and second sternebers. 
The third, gaining length, losing breadth, and with more regular curvature, is arti- 
culated by its short hemapophysis to the interspace between the second and third 
sternebers. The fourth rib is joined to the end of the third sterneber. After the seventh the 
ribs lose their heads, become shorter, more slender, less curved—gradually to the tenth, 
which is 9 inches in length—suddenly in the fourteenth, which is a straight style 
is hardly an inch long. There are two pairs of pelvic bone. ‘The pectoral fins are 
relatively short and rather obtuse. The scapula is a flat triangular plate, with a con- 
vexly curved base, in extent equalling the fore-and-aft range of the five anterior dorsal 
spines. An obtuse rising near the anterior costa, at its humeral half, developes near 
the glenoid cavity a small coracoid directed forward. The acromion is much larger, and 
is produced from a greater extent of the anterior costa in the form of a parallelo- 
gram. ‘The ulna developes scarcely any olecranon. ‘There are five digits: the first and 
fifth are the shortest, each with a metacarpal and two phalanges; the second and 
third digits are the longest, with five and four phalanges respectively, besides the 
metacarpal ; the fourth digit, intermediate in length between the third and fifth, has a 
metacarpal and four phalanges. 
Conclusion. 
The first remark that I am led to make on a review of the cetacean characters above- 
defined in connexion with those previously recorded is, that they are all gradational, 
and exemplify steps by which are gained the extreme modifications, especially in the 
skull and dentition. 
@ 2 
