564 CETACEA. 



epiphysis and tlie body is entii-ely obliterated. It is evident from these facts that 

 these vertebrse belonged to a species which attained to a considerably greater size 

 than the mature B. edeni. Besides difference in size, there are characters mani- 

 fested by the vertebrae wliich appear also to separate it specially from the Sittang 

 Whale. In the tenth vertebra, the anterior zygapophyses are relatively much longer 

 than in the latter, and much more forwardly directed, and the spinous process has 

 much greater antero-posterior expansion. In the Sittang Whale the articulation for 

 the ribs to the transverse processes is on their under surfaces, whereas in this other 

 Whale, in the tenth dorsal the articulation is at the extremity of the process poste- 

 riorly. The zygapophysial characters indicated are perpetuated in the lumbar 

 vertebrse. Although these vertebrse are relatively younger than those of the Sittang 

 Whale, yet they are at such a stage of growth that it does not appear probable that 

 the animal could ever have attained to the dimensions of B. indica; besides, they have 

 none of the characters of B. schlegeli, as figured by Beneden and Gervais. 



A rib of this Whale (Medical College) has been saved, the left first rib ; and it is 

 nearly entire, measuring in total length 47"50 inches from the tubercle. It is single- 

 headed, but it differs from the corresponding rib of the Sittang Whale in the 

 greater length of the capitular portion, and in the less prominent character of the 

 tubercle. 



It seems to me improbable that the Sondip juvenile Whale is the young of 

 B. edeni, because it apparently had yet such a capacity of growth that, had it lived, its 

 vertebrse must have considerably surpassed the dimensions of the other. Indeed, I 

 am inclined to regard the Sondip specimen as the young of an animal exceeding, 

 in adult life, double the length of B. edeni and in all likehhood surj)assing by 

 20 feet the Whale from which the vertebrse in the Medical College were derived. 

 It may be the young of the giant B. indica, but there are not sufficient materials 

 to determine this point. 



The evidence which I have adduced would, therefore, go to render it probable 

 that three species of Balmioptera exist in the Bay of Bengal, and, it may be, four, 

 if the Sondip Whale prove to be distinct from B. indica. These Whales are of 

 different sizes, one species being represented by the Sittang animal, not exceeding 

 40 feet, and for which I propose the name Balcenoptera edeni, in recognition of 

 the Hon'ble Ashley Eden having been the means of saving this Whale to science ; 

 the second, a Whale, wliich its vertebrse prove to have been a Balcenoptera 

 reaching 60 feet in length, with which I w^ould connect the name of that distin- 

 guished Indian naturalist, the late Edward Blyth, and designate it B. blythii ; and 

 a third attaining to the great size of 84 feet or more, and of which the Sondip 

 Whale may represent the young, viz., Balcenoptera indica, Blyth. 



