BALiEXOPTERA. 



568 



and yet, notwithstanding tliis, the body of this vertebra is considerably deeper and 

 shorter than the corresponding vertebra of B. edeni, as is shown by the following 

 measurements and has none of the depressed character, which is so distinctive of 



MeaBurements of eighth lumbar vertebra of B, edeni aud Sondip Whale. 



Sondip. 



Vertical diameter of body, anteriorly 

 Transverse diameter of body, anteriorly 

 Longitudinal length, beneath 

 Extreme height .... 



„ width .... 



Transverse diameter of neural canal . 

 Vertical „ „ „ 



Inehea. 



6-25 

 8-00 

 7-10 

 2475 

 12-50 

 2-15 

 3-75 



Inches. 



7-50 

 9-40 

 5-00 

 21-00 

 25-00 

 2-50 

 2-95 



the dorsal and lumbar vertebrse of that animal. These differences are so marked 

 that it is impossible to reconcile the character of this vertebra with any of the 

 vertebrae of the Sittang Whale, and, moreover, the forward dhection of the trans- 

 verse processes is much more pronoimced than in the corresponding vertebra of 

 that animal, and the spinous process is more erect and of greater thickness in its 

 last half, and not, like it, contracted at its middle. 



In the Medical College, Calcutta, there are five vertebrae of a Whale, wliich, 

 judging by the condition of their epiphyses, would appear to have belonged to an 

 animal somewhat younger than the Sittang Whale, and yet they are considerably 

 larger. I refer them to the tenth dorsal, sixth, seventh and eighth lumbars, and to 

 the second caudal. I have not succeeded in tracing their history. They have 

 the generic characters of the vertebrae of B. edeni in the form of their bodies, but 

 the spinous processes are more erect. The following table will show to what degree 

 they exceed in size the corresponding vertebrae of B. edeni : 



No epiphyses. 



^ One epiphysis. 



Half, as one transveree process ia gone. 



These vertebrae of the Medical College Whale, with the exception of the tenth 

 dorsal and the second caudal, have lost some of the epiphyses of their bodies. In 

 the first mentioned vertebra, the hinder epiphysis is intact, and, in the last, the 

 epiphysis is partially united to the centrum around the margin in the Medical Col- 

 lege specimen, whereas in B. edeni all trace of the distinction between the 



