98 ME. p. E. BEDDAllD ON TliE 



Whales, MM. van Beneden and Gervais make a statement which the structure of the 

 present species of whale, as will be seen by a glance at Plate VII., does not bear out, 

 and ]ierhaps in a more marked degi'ee than some other Whalebone Whales. Tlie 

 authors remark that in Whales in general, not only in Wlialebone Whales — " Les 

 premieres (cotes) sont toujours les plus larges et les plus courtes." This is most 

 clearly untrue of Neohalama marginata, and is really not absolutely true of all other 

 whales, though unquestionably it is of the great majority. 



In a quite unexpected way Neohalcena resembles not so much other Balsenidse as it 

 does many Toothed Whales as regards one character of its ribs. In the former group 

 the ribs are, as has been pointed out by van Beneden and Gervais, less flattened and 

 distinctly more rounded than they are in the Odontocetes. This flattening is carried 

 to an enormous degree in Neolalcena, which thus departs very widely from its nearest 

 allies among whales. That there happens to be in this particular a resemblance to 

 that group of whales with which Neolalcena has plainly no obvious affinities, cannot 

 but be regarded as a caprice of structure of no account in considering the affinities of 

 our whale. 



As to other likenesses and differences from other Whalebone AVhales which 

 Neolalcena shows in the form of its ribs, the following comparisons seem to be of 

 perhaps some importance, in addition, of course, to the highly remarkable fact, already 

 emphasized in connection with the vertebral column, of the commencement of the 

 series of ribs with the second dorsal vertebra. 



In Balcena australis the first rib is much curved round at its articulation with the 

 vertebral column, very much more so than in Neolalcena, but it must be said to lack 

 a " neck," since it is the extremity of the bone which is attached to the vertebra — 

 " Le col et la tete manquent egalement du reste aux premieres cotes," is the statement 

 of the authors of the ' Osteographie des Cetaces.' The last five ribs of that whale 

 are incomplete and possess no neck. There are thus nine which have a clearly 

 developed capitulum, though of course they do not reach the bodies of the respective 

 vertebrae. In the other species of Balcena, B. mysUcetus, there are but thirteen pairs 

 of ribs. Of these the first two pairs have no trace of head or neck. The last 

 two are similar in so far as this point is concerned. There are therefore here at any 

 rate nine ribs with a neck. The number is not very different from that of Balcena 

 australis. In Neolalcena it is plain that a considerable number of ribs have acquired 

 the secondary character of possessing both tuberculum and capitulum. 



Turning to the Rorquals we find quite a different state of affairs. In Megaptera, 

 where there are fourteen pairs of ribs, only the third and the fourth agree to diffier 

 from the rest by the possession of a distinct neck. But there are traces of the division 

 in at any rate the two following ones. In Balcenoptera musculus Sir W. H. Flower 

 described ^ the ribs in the following words — " The first rib is simple . . . The second 



' P. Z. S. 1864, p. 415. 



