ME. W. H. FLOWER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OP THE SPERM-WHALE. 313 



eleventh dorsal, appears, from the condition of its transverse process, to have carried a 

 rudimentary rib. The body of the hyoid bone, composed of three pieces^ is present ; but 

 the basihyal is articulated to the posterior end of the sternum, and the two thyro-hyals, 

 joined together, form a sort of pelvis. I mention these circumstances, as a knowledge 

 of them will clear up some of the difficulties in Beale's description of this skeleton. 

 The stylo-hyals are absent ; but the bone which Beale took for an os penis was evidently 

 one of them. The true pelvic bones are absent. There are ten chevron bones present. 

 The carpus and phalanges are nearly complete on both sides, but incorrectly articulated. 

 The teeth have all been removed and are replaced by wooden models. Notwithstanding 

 these defects, it is a noble-looking specimen ; and it would be a matter of great regret if 

 it should become still further deteriorated by a long continuance of the exposure to 

 all weathers to which it is now subjected. 1 cannot forbear mentioning as a curious 

 incident connected with it, that at the time of ray visit a Starling had formed her nest 

 and was rearing her young brood in the cavity (certainly now most convenient for her 

 purpose, but) which once contained the brain of this monster of the deep. 



4. In the courtyard of the Anatomicnl Museum at the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, is 

 the decayed wreck of the Cachalot's skeleton mentioned by Cuvier as having been bought 

 in London in 1818 *, and which furnished what for many years was the standard and, 

 indeed, only description of the osteology of the animal extant. .Yet this skeleton pre- 

 sents peculiarities in the number of the ribs and vertebrae, which separate it at once 

 from all the preceding. While they, as well as the skeleton in the Sydney Museum 

 described by Wall, all agree in having but ten pairs of well-developed ribs, the Paris 

 specimen has fourteen, besides indications of a rudimentary fifteenth ; and while in none 

 of the others does the total number of -v ertebrse exceed fifty, this one has sixty, and 

 still wants the terminal portion of the tail. Notwithstanding these differences, greater 

 than are to be found in many animals generically separated, in general character 

 the cranium, vertebras, ]fibs, and other bones closely resemble those of the three 

 former skeletons — so much so that one cannot avoid the suspicion that the specimen has 

 been made up of the bones of more than one individual. On account of this circum- 

 stance, as well as its very imperfect condition (the hyoids, sternum, hands, pelvic bones, 

 and terminal caudal vertebrae being absent), 1 have not made so much use of it in the 

 comparisons as of the three skeletons at present in this coimtry. It should be men- 

 tioned that the animal was adolescent : the teeth are slightly worn, the epiphyses not 

 united to the head of the humerus, or to the majority of the vertebrae. The entire length 

 of the skeleton as it now stands is 56', the head being about 16'; but the tips of the 

 premaxillaries are made of wood, and many of the epiphyses are lost from the vertebral 



* This is probably the skeleton exhibited in Rackstrow's Museum, Fleet-street, described in the Catalogue 

 f 1794) as " The Astonishing and Complete Skeleton of a full-grown Sperma-ceii Whale, being the real bonen 

 joined together ; near 70 feet in length. The Head, or Skull alone, measures 16 feet." I am indebted to 

 Mr. Gore, of Bath, for this reference. 



