10 Transactions. — Zoology. 



6*. The Fore-limb. — The humerus is but slightly compressed, and cannot 

 be said to have a sharp lower (pre-axial) edge as described by Van Beneden 

 and Grervais, who also state that the ulna and radius are twice the length 

 of the humerus. In the present specimen the length of the humerus is to 

 that of the fore-arm as 3 : 5 (strictly as 17 : 29). The total length of the 

 fore-limb, as mounted, from the head of the humerus to the tip of the 

 second digit, is 6 feet 2 inches. 



The Baleen (fig. 5). 



The baleen was cut into about six pieces on each side, but the separate 

 portions appear to be as nearly perfect as possible. The total number of 

 blades on each side — about 350 — corresponds exactly to the number found 

 by Flower* in an entire specimen of Balcenoptera musculus obtained near 

 Havre. In the middle of the series. I find 39 plates to a foot ; Flower gives 

 this number as 24. The length of the anterior blades is about 6 inches : 

 the longest are 23 inches measured along the outer edge, 30 inches along 

 the inner edge, and 10J inches along the base or dorsal edge. In Flower's 

 Havre specimen the anterior blades were 7, the longest 21 inches in length, 

 the total length of the specimen, in the flesh, being 61 feet. 



The anterior blades are yellowish white, the rest slate-coloured, with 

 irregular vertical stripes of pale horn-colour, especially numerous towards 

 the inner edge. The whole of the fibres forming the inner surface of the 

 baleen are nearly white ; they attain a length of 11 inches in the middle of 

 the series. There is a distinct inner fringe formed by the dorsalmost fibres, 

 which are about six inches in length : it seems just possible that this inner 

 fringe may be due to a uniform longitudinal splitting .of the blades during 

 drying. There is no trace of the curled fibres described by Flower in the 

 Havre specimen! as occurring on the outer side of the hindmost plates. 



It will be seen that the agreement with Balcenoptera musculus is here 

 very close, except in the number of blades to a foot in the middle of the 

 series. I am disposed to wonder whether the number given by Flower (24) 

 is not a misprint, since if the distance between the blades through the 

 whole series were anything like uniform — as it is in my specimen — the 

 total antero-posterior extent of the baleen would be nearly 15 feet, whereas 

 the total distance from the end of the muzzle to the middle of the eye is 

 given as 12 feet. If the number 24 is correct, the blades in the Havre 

 specimen must have been much crowded at either the anterior or posterior 

 end of the series, or both. 



* " Notes on four specimens of the common Fin-whale," Proc. Zool. Soc, 1869, p. 604. 

 t P.Z.S., 1869, p. 604, 



