THE ANNALS 



AND 



MlGAZliNE OF NATURAL lllSTOEY 



[NINTH SERIES.] 

 No. GG, JUNE 1923. 



LXXIV. — On the Bloiv-holes and Nasal Passages of the 

 Cachalot (Physcter macrocephalus). By I^^hank E. 

 13EDDARD, D.Sc, M.A., F.R.S. 



We are well acquainted with the characters of the blow- 

 hole of this Cetacean through the observations of several 

 persons, and the structure of the nasal passages has been 

 described comparatively recently by Pouchet and Beau- 

 regard *, who sum up previous knowledge. But less is 

 knoAvn of the condition of these in the foetus. I luive 

 myself contributed something to the external characters of 

 the blow-hole in several foetuses of different ages in two 

 recent communications to the 'Annals of the Durban 

 Museum ' f. Since then the youngest of these foetuses has 

 furnished me with the opportunity of discovering something 

 of the development of the organs in question. The material 



* " Recherches sur le Cachalot," Nouv. Arch. Mus. (3) vol. iv. (1889). 



\ " Contributions to the Knowledge of the Anatomy of the Speini- 

 Wliale {P/ii/seter macrocephalus), based upon the Exauiination of a young 

 Fcetus," vol. i. pt. 2 (1915), and vol. ii. pt. 4 (1919). It had been 

 arranged that this series of contributions snould be continued ; but, 

 unfortunately, the Government found themselves unable to continue the 

 grant of money, and the Journal has had to cease publication for the 

 present. 



Ann. ik Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 9. Vol. xi. 42 



