MR. W. H. FLOWER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE SPERM-WHALE. 311 
complete skull of a very young animal, four lower jaws of adults, four perfect pectoral 
limbs, some caudal vertebrae, and several detached pelvic and petro-tympanic bones. 
b. The nearly complete skeleton of an adult male Cachalot from the north of Scotland, 
now in the British Museum. 
ce. The skeleton of an adult male Cachalot preserved at Burton Constable, in 
Yorkshire. 
d. The very imperfect skeleton at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. 
é. The foetal skull in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, which was pur- 
chased in 1844 of a dealer. Unfortunately the locality whence it was obtained is not 
recorded. 
f. A disarticulated skull, about the same size as the last, in the Museum of St. 
Bartholomew’s Hospital. 
Il. To compare the osteological characters of the Cachalots with those of other 
allied Cetaceans, in the hope of furnishing additional evidence as to their zoological 
position in the order. 
IV. To endeavour to ascertain whether the osteological characters furnish indications 
of more than one species of Cachalot, and, if so, to establish diagnostic characters. Not 
to prejudge this question, I shall for the present avoid using any specific scientific 
designation, but speak of the different skeletons compared, according to the localities 
from which they were obtained. 
A few notes upon the history, general characters, and condition of these skeletons will 
be useful before entering into details. 
1. The Tasmanian specimen. As before stated, this was captured off the coast of 
Tasmania in the year 1864. The animal was considered a full-sized male, and said to 
have measured 60 feet in length. It was towed ashore, and the skeleton prepared under 
Mr. Crowther’s directions. It is perfect, with the exception of one of the pelvic bones, 
four of the chevron bones, and a few of the terminal phalanges. The condition of 
ossification shows that it is not quite adult: the epiphyses are still loose on the upper 
end of the humerus, and on all the dorsal and lumbar, as well as the anterior eleven 
eaudal yvertebre; beyond this they are united to the bodies. The vertebral formula 
is C.7. D.11. L.8. C.24=50, the vertebra which bears the anterior pair of chevron 
bones at its hinder end being reckoned as the first caudal. The length of the vertebral 
column when the vertebre were placed close together, and in a straight line, was 30’ 4”. 
The cranium measures 16’ 9” in length. The entire length of the skeleton as articulated 
is 50’ 1”, three feet having been allowed for the intervertebral spaces*. There are eleven 
* Perhaps more should have been allowed; for by measuring the vertebral column of an adult Porpoise, in 
the recent state, and again after maceration, I find that the length of the whole of the vertebral bodies placed 
close together is to the recent column, with the intervertebral substances, as 100 to 115. Assuming that the 
relation is the same in the Cachalot, the recent vertebral column of the animal described above would be 
34' 103”, and the entire skeleton 51' 73”. 
2x2 
