1867.] DR. H. BURMEISTER ON A NEW FINNER WHALE. 



"09 



of the hinder end. The remaining part is composed of 192 ])lates ; 

 and from the form of the last it may be supposed that a series of 30 

 or 40 plates is lost on the hinder end, so that the whole series of 

 plates may have been from 230 to 23.5. The first plates are very 

 small, not higher than 3 inches, of which 2 inches are long bristles ; 

 but the hinder plates are 12 inches high without the bristles, and the 

 bristles here are more than 3 inches long. These hinder plates have 

 a base 7 inches broad and an elongated triangular figure, the side 

 with the bristles being the largest, like the hypotheuuse of the tri- 

 angle, and somewhat curved to the exterior. 



It is well known by the description of different authors* that there 

 are three or even four series of plates in the internal basal margin of 

 the larger external series. In my specimen the second series of 

 plates is preserved, but the two or three smaller most internal series 

 are lost. The plates of this second series are of the same triangular 

 figure, but no higher than | to 3 inches, with short bristles of ^ inch 

 on the inside. All these interior plates are of a white colour in my 

 specimen ; and of the same colour is also the whole inside of the 

 large external series, every plate of that series being black on the 

 outer margin for a space of 2 inches. 



The neck is composed in the usual manner of seven small vertebrae, 

 of which the second, third, and fourth are united together by the 

 bodies and by ossified commissures on the central portion of the 

 arch. The first or atlas (fig. 1, anterior surface) is much broader 



Fig. 1. 



Anterior surface of atlas of B. hona'erensis. 



than high, the horizontal diameter between the transverse processes 

 being 15| inches, and the perpendicular in the middle only 9\" . 

 Projecting these diameters in lines, the transverse diameter is situate 

 somewhat above the middle of the perpendicular. The articular 

 surfaces for the occipital condyles are together 7z inches broad and 

 each 5" high. 



The three following united vertebras are figured in fig. 2 from 



* I find a very correct description of the whalebones of the European species 

 by Ravin in the ' Annal. des Sciences Natnrelles,' 2*-' ser. Zool. t. v. p. 266, pi. 11. 



