105 



ossification (ostosis) was evidently complete, at least the epiphyses had become 

 entirely anchylosed with the centra or bodies. 



Another part of the lumbar vertebrae and also the dorsal vertebrae, like- 

 wise the ulna and radius however still show a suture or seam, sometimes 

 even loose epiphyses, occuring at the end of the bones in question as separate 

 plates, clearly showing that the process of total ostosis was not yet accomp- 

 lished. 



We may safely assume, therefore, that the specimen under investigation 

 is certainly not a very old one; at the same time the immense length of 27,28 

 M., hitherto unsurpassed by anything recorded, establishes a presumption 

 that we are dealing with an adult male, fully developed to jts maxi- 

 mum length. 



As mentioned before, the bone also is somewhat soft, and of course 

 softer in proportion as it contains more cartilage. Those softer parts are 

 m the nature of things also more liable to shrinkage when drying than the 

 paits already ossified; and this is whv the parts of the skeleton still containing 

 cartilage, such as for instance the upper-rim of the shoulderblade (scapula), 

 after desiccation present a fretted or corroded appearance, as this is rendered 

 in the illustration (fig. 39 and 40). 



It may be supposed that the younger bone still containing a good deal 

 of cartilage would probably no longer show the exact original shape after 

 desiccation. This would appear to me to account for the fact, that in many 

 illustrations especially of smaller bones the thin and pinched character of 

 these bones was often striking in comparison with the corresponding parts 

 of the skeleton dealt with here. 



The skull (cranium). The illustration (fig. 1) gives a side-view of the 

 skull; views from above and from below could not be made. It offers most 

 similarity to that made after Balaenoptera musculus L. by Reinhardt (5) on p. 

 188 and also some, though less striking, resem.blance with that made from 

 Balaenoptera physalus L., of which creature True (6) reproduces several good 

 photos. These latter, however, since they have reference to an allied species, are 

 utilised exclusively because the sideview of the skull of the first- rr.entioned 

 whale is not known to me either from an illustration or from any description. 



The breadth of the skull amounts to 481/2 % of its length, this proportion 

 being 49 % in the illustration by Reinhardt, and according to Trje (6) p. 



