86 ESCHRICHT AND REINHARDT 



the cranium ; but in the middle it is much broader than behind, where the two rami approach 

 each other very much, especially where they are placed just beneath the orbital processes of 

 the superior maxillaries and the frontals ; the rami of the lower jaw of the Cape whale 

 therefore, thougli forming a much narrower cavity of the mouth, are, comparatively speaking, 

 much more strongly curved than those of the Greenland whale. 



All these differences between the Greenland whale and the Cape whale, as to the articulation 

 of the cranium with the lower jaw, and as to the form of the latter, are particularly interesting, 

 as they prove the former to be more different from the rorquals than the Cape whale. A 

 glance at the two skulls of rorquals, figured in Plate III, shows immediately that the articulation 

 between the upper and the lower jaw in both, though more especially in the hump-back (fig. 2), 

 is placed far more inwardly and in a more anterior position relative to the foramen magnum, 

 than in the Cape whale, and at the same time the rami of their lower jaw are seen to be still more 

 strongly curved than those of the Cape whale. 



The peculiarities described above, by which the cavity of the mouth of the Greenland whale, 

 more than that of any other whale, is increased in height, length, and breadth, may as certainly 

 be considered as its most essential osteological characteristics, as the extraordinary dimensions of 

 the cavity of the mouth may justly be said to be the most characteristic feature of its whole 

 organization. But nevertheless we must not omit to enter more minutely into the details of its 

 remarkable composition ; and though we shall not give a description of each bone by itself, we 

 shall endeavour to describe each of the different regions of the cranium. By acting thus, we believe 

 we shall be able to perform in the best way our task of pointing out the characteristics of the 

 Greenland whale. For in the skull of this animal by far the greater number of the bones are 

 completely united with one another, and to a great extent concealed in such a manner as to render 

 it impossible to describe them singly, except in foetuses, and they will therefore scarcely ever 

 come before the eye of the zoologist, except in larger or smaller fragments of the cranium. 



In the following description we shall especially follow the large head sawn through the 

 middle, wherefore we shall be obliged continually to refer our readers to the illustrations of it 

 given in the plates. 



This skull is, as we have already mentioned, represented (forty-eight times diminished), as 

 seen from the side in the first figure of plate II, as seen from behind in the second figure (re- 

 duced to one twentieth) of the same plate ; its posterior part is given as seen from above and 

 from below in the first and second figure (reduced to one twentieth) of the fourth plate, and 

 the most anterior part from below in the third figure of the same plate. In all these figures 

 the letters have the following significations : 



a. Processus articularis ossis temporum. 

 h. The parietal [os parietale). 



c. The cavity of the foremost point of the primordial vomer (Plate IV, fig. 3). 



d. The frontal [os frontale) . 



ff. The tympanic [as tympanicum) . 



li. The hook of the ptei'ygoid {hamulus pterygoideus). 



i. The intermaxillary (os intermaæillare) . 



k. The condyle of the occipital [condylus ossis occipitis). 



I. The lachrymal {os lachrymale). 



