266 LILLJEBORG ON THE 



It is, according to Moller, of a slender and elongated form of body ; the fore part is usually 

 the thickest, and the hind part elongated and narrow, and compressed towards the tail. The lower 

 jaw is perceptibly both longer and wider than the upper one, about 2' longer according to Moller; 

 Van Breda mentions that, according to information which he received, the Ostend specimen had 

 some bristles about 1' long on the point of the snout. He had not, however, himself seen them 

 in situ. The Greenland specimen was, according to Moller, without bristles, at least on the 

 lower jaw. The pectoral fins of the Greenland specimen are, as the measurements indicate, placed 

 near before the end of the first i of the body,^ and on the Ostend specimen considerably farther 

 forward, probably in consequence of the rather uncertain measurement of the latter, because the 

 distance between the fins and the point of the snout is nearly the same in both specimens. The 

 dorsal fin, nearly above the vent, is very far back, in the Greenland specimen near before the 

 posterior 5 of the body, and in the Ostend specimen somewhat before the posterior |, accord- 

 ing to Van Breda. It is, as the measurements indicate, very small and strongly directed 

 backwards. 



The colour is stated by Moller to be black all over, possibly somewhat lighter under the 

 hinder part of the body, and white on the lower side of the pectoral fin. It is, according to 

 Van Breda, above black, and white on the belly side and around the genital organs.^ The baleen 

 is dark brown. 



As regards the skeleton, I have mentioned the most important of its known characters. The 

 cervical vertebrae are all separate. The axis is the only cervical vertebra with the processus trans- 

 versi ring-like. The foramen spinale of the atlas is tapering below, but the lower part is not sepa- 

 rated from the upper part by any lateral notch. The 7th cervical vertebra is without the lower 

 ramus of the lateral process. The sternum resembles, according to Dubar's figure, very nearly 

 that of the skeleton of B. musculus from Greenland which is preserved at Copenhagen. Its width 

 is greater than its length. Its middle part or manubrium projects somewhat forward. There is 

 on each side of the corpus a broad wing-like process, and the posterior process is about as long 

 and wide as these. It is thus, as Eschricht terms it, formed like a cross. The first pair of ribs are 

 larger and wider than in B. musculus. There is on the anterior edge below the upper end of the 

 second rib, a forked process, which is directed down. The carpus has, according to Dubar, 6 bones ; 

 but Eschricht, in the figures of the bones of the anterior extremity of the Greenland specimen, 

 has given only 5 carpal bones, as usual, 3 in the upper and 2 in the lower row. One of the pelvic 

 bones figm'ed by Dubar resembles the same bone of B. musculus figured by Companyo, but with 

 the middle shorter process shorter and more obtuse. 



As I have previously stated, it is not known with certainty to have been obtained on the 

 coast of Scandinavia, but it may be presumed that it exists there. The late Captain HolboU, 

 according to Eschricht, observed it three times on the coasts of Greenland ; and Inspector Moller 

 (according to the same authority) saw a female that was stranded at Godhavn, August 27th, 



' I have estimated the distance of the pectoral fins in the Greenland specimen from the point of 

 the snout, from the distance given between them and the hinder fork of the caudal fin, adding to this 

 the width of the pectoral fins at' their base, this being subtracted from the length of the body, the 

 distance from the nose to the pectoral fins is, of course, obtained. Moller has given the length 

 of body in a straight line. 



^ Van Breda has since, according to Eschricht, told him it was of a dark colour on the belly side. 



