GLASGOW SOCIETY OF FIELD NATURALISTS. 177 



bristles on the lips is found on some. He then went on to describe 

 the general anatomy, showing how well adapted the animals were for 

 rapid motion in the water. The class is divided into two great 

 groups, viz., the Whalebone Whales and the Toothed Whales. 

 Examples of the first are found in the Greenland Whale and the 

 Eorquals, and of the second in the Spermaceti Whale and the Dolphin. 

 The spinal nervous system consists of a large cord contained in the 

 canal formed by the vertebral column. It is protected from external 

 injury by the neural arches and bodies of the vertebrae. The cord 

 is bound in and supported in this canal. From the canal formed by the 

 bones in this way we have a number of intervertebral foramina or holes 

 for the transmission of the spinal nerves to the anterior and posterior 

 surface of the body. The cord is surrounded by a peculiar tissue called 

 the rete mirabile, consisting of a great number of minute anastomosing 

 blood vessels. This peculiar tissue also partially surrounds the brain 

 and medulla oblongata. The function of this membrane is to keep 

 the parts of a uniform temperature, as it is a warm-blooded animal. 

 There are two swellings at the parts of the cord which go to supply 

 the caudal extremity and flippers or cervical and lumbar regions. 

 The origin of these ganglia from the cord is by two roots, a superior 

 and inferior, which pass out and enter the foramina. Then the 

 superior swells out into a ganglion, and is then joined by the inferior. 

 It then branches into two divisions, the one passing up, the other 

 down. In the cervical region they are placed close together, the 

 upper branches supplying the skin and muscles above, while the lower 

 branches form the cervical and brachial plexuses. The dorsal nerves 

 also branch into two, the superior supplying the skin and back, while 

 the inferior supplies the ribs and abdomen, thus resembling other mam- 

 mals. He then drew special attention to the peculiar provision for the 

 supply of the four great caudal muscles. In the caudal region the 

 superior division of the spinal nerves becomes united on each side 

 into one great trunk for the supply of the superior caudal muscles, 

 while the inferior divisions were similarly fused into two main nerves, 

 which went to supply the inferior caudal muscles. 



13th June, 1876. 



Mr. W. J. Milligan, Vice-President, in the chair. 



Dr. Cunningham, Edinburgh, was elected a corresponding member. 



B 



