2S6 LILLJEBORG ON THE. 



Although our knowledge of the whales found in the northern part of the Atlantic is better than 

 of those found in other seas, it seems, however, so incom])letc that there ma}' exist many species 

 that are perfectl}' strange to us. A part of the bones were considerably decayed, and it is pro- 

 ]ial)le that the time of their interment is far back, but as their position was not very much above 

 the surface of the sea, it is not at all impossible that this may have taken place after the southern 

 junction of the Baltic and the North Sea, and that the whale lias entered tlie Baltic this way, 

 which still happens at times. A tradition, not very old among the inhabitants of Graso, 

 informs us that the island has risen considerably within recent centuries, and that during the 

 times of their ancestors, it was divided by narrow sounds that have since disappeared. 



2nd Genm — Megaptera, Gray. 

 {Kypliohalæna, Eschricht.) 



The form of the body of animals of this genus is thick and robust in comparison with those of 

 the preceding genus, with the greatest thickness about the middle. The head is larger than in 

 the preceding, and is obtusely pointed, seen either from above or from the side, and the hinder 

 part of the body is as usual narrower and more elongated, and strongly compressed before the 

 caudal fin. There are deep longitudinal furrows on the lower side of the fore part of the body, 

 but these are not so numerous as in the preceding. The pectoral fins are very long, with the 

 front edge as well as part of the hinder edge undulated. The dorsal fin is very low, and is not 

 as far back as in the preceding, and is farther forward than the vent. The caudal fin is veiy large 

 and deeply forked in the middle of the hinder edge. The baleen is small and short like that of 

 the preceding. 



The skeleton is remarkable for the acromion and processus coracoideus of the scapula being 

 absent, or, at least, only rudimentary. The shoulder-blade is of the same general wide form as it 

 is in the preceding genus. The skull is, in comparison with the skeleton, larger than in the preceding 

 genus, and is of a rather heavy build, but otherwise of the same form. Its facial portion or 

 beak is rather large and wide, and its upper margin almost straight, when the skull is seen from 

 the side. The intermaxillary bones are considerably narrower than the superior maxillaries, when 

 the skull is seen from above. The vertebræ differ from those of the preceding by the corpora 

 being shorter and wider (very nearly like those of the succeeding genus), and by the processus 

 spinosi and transversi being shorter. The cervical vertebræ are generally separate, though two 

 are sometimes united by their processus spinosi. Their lateral processes are shorter than in the 

 preceding genus. The ribs are remarkably large and broad, comparatively broader than in any 

 of the preceding genus. There is nothing distinguishing in the sternum. The os humeri cor- 

 responds with that of the preceding in the slightly oblique position of its caput. The olecranon 

 ulnæ is conical, directed straight out, and has a cartilaginous extension of the same form. The 

 cartilaginous part of the carpus has at the ulnar edge an axe-shaped appendage, and the hand is 

 peculiar for the very numerous phalanges on the two middle fingers ; the latter are, as usual in the 

 whalebone whales, 4. The mucous membrane of the jejunum has, according to Eschricht, cell- 



