302 LILLJEBORG ON THE 



2. B. MVSTicETUS, Linné. The Greenland whale. 



Ribs 13 pairs. 1st pair 7iot forl-ed} and, as well as those nearest siicceedinr/, fat at the 

 lower end. Vertebra 54 — 55. Cervical vertebrce all invited. Scapvla with both acromion and 

 coracoid process. Zi/^omatic process of the svperior inaxillaries and the orbital parts of the frontal 

 hones very narrow and directed much bachoards, and the temporal bones as well as the lateral 

 parts of the occipital bone extending further bach than the occipital condyles. Head very large., 

 being about one third {more or less) of the entire length of the body: 



Balæna mysticetus, Linné. Fauna Suecica, p. 16. 



— — 0. Fat)ricms. Fauua Groenlandica, p. 32. 



— — Lacépede. Histoire Naturelle des Cétacées, p. 1. 



— — W. Scoresby. An Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 



449, 1820. 

 Baleine de Groenland, G. Cuvier. Recherches sur les Osseméns Fossiles, t. v, 1, 



p. 375, pi. XXV, figs. 9 — 11 ; pi. xxvi, fig. 8. 

 Balæna mysticetus arctica, H. Scldegel. Ahliandlungen aus dem Gebiete der 



Zoologie und Vergleichenden Anatomic, 1 H., 

 p. 36. 



— — J. E. Gray. Zoology of the Voyage of the Erebus and Terror, 



parts iii — v, p. 47, pi. i, fig. 4. 



— — S. Nilsson. Skandinavisk Fauna, Daggdjuren, p. 642. 



The size, and particularly the length, of this whale has often been exaggerated. According 

 to Scoresby, it scarcely reaches 70' (English). The greatest certain length that he has ever heard 

 of is 67'. Among 322 specimens that he has seen caught there was none exceeding 60 

 in length, Scoresby also is of opinion that it has not been larger in former times. Its 

 greatest circumference is larger than half its length, but is variable; it was 35' in a specimen 

 about 65' long. He gives among others the following measurements of a specimen 50' (Eng.) 

 long. 



^ The-B«^. mysticetus antarctica of Schlegel, from Japan, which he considers to be the same species 

 as B. australis, has, according to him, 15 pairs of ribs, of which the 1st pair are forked, both at tlie 

 upper and the lower end. 



" The osteological characters are partly derived from observations on the aljove-mentioned 

 skeleton in Copenhagen, which was mounted under the direction of Professor Eschricht. I have also 

 there had the opportunity of examining a younger skeleton. I have noted but little in regard to these 

 skeletons, in expectation of the treatise by Eschricht and Reinhardt already alluded to, which will 

 throw a new light upon this part of the Cetology. The former skeleton is now in Brussels, but another 

 one of similar size was being put up in Copenhagen at the time of my visit last summer. This one^ 

 like the others, is from Greenland. 



