144 REPORT — 1871. 



Oti the Morbid Appearances noticed in the Brains of Insane People. 

 By Dr. J. Batxy Tuke and Professor Rutherford. 



On the Placentation in the Cctacea. By Professor Turner. 



The author gave an account of the arrangement and structure of the gi-avid uterus 

 and foJtal membranes in Orca gladiator. The paper is printed in extenso in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1871. 



Notes on the Cervical Vertebrce of Steypirethyr (Balaenoptera Sibbaldii). 



By Professor Turner. 



The author described in this communication the cervical vertebrae of the large 

 female Steypireth}T whale stranded at Longniddry in November 1869, an account 

 of the soft parts of which he had given in tlie Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, 1870. Reference was also made to the cervical vertebrtc of a large 

 female Steypirethyr stranded at Northmaven, Shetland, in October of the same 

 year, many of the bones of which are in the author's possession. The following 

 are some of the principal measurements of three vertebrae of the Longniddry 

 Steypirethyr : — ■ 



Atlas. Axis. Gth C. V. 

 inches. inches. inches. 

 Between tips of transverse processes .... 37 4.3i 45 



Transverse diameter of anterior articular 



surface 10 IS 14i 



Vertical diameter of neural canal 9 63 5| 



Transverse diameter of foramen at root of 



transverse process 8J II3 



The transverse process of the atlas was not perforated by a foramen ; those of 

 the 2ud, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Gth each possessed a large oval foramen at the root. 

 The 7th cervical vertebra had only its superior transverse process well developed ; 

 the inferior was marked simply by a slight ridge on the body of the bone. In the 

 Northmaven specimen the inferior transverse process of the 6th vertebra was only 

 partially developed, so that it did not join the superior, and the boundaries of the 

 ring were imperfectly formed. The author believed that Steypu-ethjT was not an 

 uncommon whale on the Scottish coasts. In addition to the two specimens already 

 referred to as stranded in 1869, he had also identified the great whale stranded at 

 North Berwick in October 1831, dissected by Dr. Robert Knox, and the skeleton 

 of which is suspended in the Museum of Science and Art, with this species. Be- 

 longing also to this species was a whale stranded at Aberdour in July 1858, which 

 he had been able to identify from the nasal bones, which had been preserved by 

 Dr. JPBain. Steypirethyr is apparently the largest of the Fin-whales, and it 

 seems to be very doubtfid whether the common Razor-back, B. mtisculus, ever 

 attains the length of 70 feet. 



o 



Contributions to the Anatomy of the Thoracic Viscera of the Elephant. 



By Dr. M. Watson. 



• Akthropoiogt. 

 Address to the Department of Anthropolorpj . By Professor Turner. 



As this is the first time in Scotland that an Anthropological Department has been 

 constituted in connexion with a Meeting of the British Association, and, indeed, as 

 it IS only the third time that a department of the biological section has been formed 

 ■with this title since the first one, which was instituted at the Meeting in Not- 



