92 MJ{. F. E. BEDDAKD ON THE 



of these processes diminishes in the succeeding vertebrae, and culminates \vith number 

 nine of the series, which is thin and latli-like ; in all the following dorsals the thin and 

 wide character of the transverse processes exists ; these processes go on without much 

 change, tlirough the lumbars and caudals, becoming, however, much shorter as the 

 end of the series is approached. The last traces of transverse processes are evident on 

 the fourth caudal, after which there are no recognizable projections. 



The spines of the dorsal vertebrfE rise up to the sixth (PL VII. B. 6) ; this vertebra 

 is the first to show a backward inclination of the spine ; the slope of the processes 

 increases up to the sixteenth, after which they continue to slope at much the same 

 anMe. The lenoth of the spines begins to diminish after the fourteenth dorsal. On 

 this vertebra the length of the spinous process is 12 inches. They are recognizable 

 until the bef^inning of the caudal series (PI. VIII. fig. 3). On the second caudal 

 vertebra the anapophyses are on a level with the spinous process, which is still perfectly 

 separate from them. On the sixth caudal vertebra the spine and the anapophyses form 

 a low oval elevation of which the component parts are no longer distinguishable. The 

 neural canal also is persistent up to this point as a canal. On the seventh caudal this 

 canal has become a groove upon the dorsal surface of the vertebra. There is no groove 

 or canal from this point till the end of the body. The metapophyses bearing the quite 

 rudimentary posterior zygapophyses are but little pronounced. They appear to end 

 with the fourth dorsal vertebra. They do not embrace the anterior zygapophyses but 

 are set above them. The anapophyses bearing the anterior zygapophyses begin faintly 

 with the first dorsal. They are recognizable, as already said, up to the sixth caudal, 

 but they do not grasp the spinous process of the vertebra in front after tlie first lumbar. 

 The articulation, however, between these processes and the preceding vertebra is 

 always very faint. Reckoning the first vertebra which bears chevron-bones as the fii'st 

 caudal, the skeleton will have only two lumbar vertebree, the smallest number known 

 in any whale. There are 6 chevrons (PI. VII.), of which the last only is divided into 

 two pieces, not ankylosed together. 



The transverse processes of the dorsal vertebrae arise at first from the sides of the 

 neural arch ; later they spring from the centrum of each vertebra. The sixth dorsal 

 vertebra is the first of the series of those whose transverse process is most unmistakably 

 a process of the centrum. The vertebra in front of this is nearly, but not quite, in the 

 same condition ; there is still a trace of the origin from the neural arch discernible. 

 In front of this vertebra the transverse processes are quite distinctly processes of the 

 neural arch. 



The vertebral column of this whale shows a certain number of intermediate 

 characters. The shortness of the vertebral column, i. e. the comparative fewness of its 

 component vertebrae, is apparently a peculiarity of this genus. But it throws no 

 particular light upon its affinities. It is apparently to some extent a question of size ; 

 at least this may be the case, for in the small Balcenoptera rostrata there are as few as 



