WHALE ROOM. 61 



Most of the largest Cetacea belong to the group called whalebone 

 " Whalebone Whales," in which a series of horny plates '^^*'*°' 

 termed " whalebone " grow from the palate in place of teeth, 

 and serve to strain the water taken into the mouth from 

 the small marine animals on which these Whales subsist. A 

 fine representative of this group is the perfect skeleton 

 of the Common Eorqual or Fin-Whale (Baleenoptera musculus) 

 in the south-west portion of the room. It is sixty-eight 

 feet long, and was captured in 1882 in the Moray Firth, 

 Scotland. The flukes of the tail and the back-fin were preserved 

 with the skeleton and are placed above the wall- case behind ; 

 the small pelvic bones, and a rudimentary nodule representing 

 the femur or thigh-bone, the only trace of the hind leg of this 

 gigantic animal, are also preserved. The external form is 

 modelled in plaster. In front is a skeleton and half -model of 

 the Black of Biscay Eight- Whale (Balcena hiscayensis). Beyond 

 this skeleton stands a skull of the Greenland Eight- Whale 

 {Balaena mysticetus), the species which yields most of the 

 " whalebone " of commerce, and also a small wooden model of 

 the entire animal, on the scale of one inch to the foot. 



Eemains of extinct Cetaceans — notably the solid bony beaks 

 of the skulls of the Beaked- Whales (Ziphiince) from the Eed 

 Crag of the east coast of England — are placed in this gallery. 

 A special table-case, near the Sperm-Whale, shows the curious 

 ear-bones of various Cetaceans, both recent and fossil. These 

 bones are alone perfectly sufi&cient to identify the kind of 

 whale from which they were taken. In a case on the opposite 

 side of the gallery is displayed the curious horny wart found 

 on the nose of the Biscay Eight- Whale, termed by sailors 

 the " bonnet." 



FlEST Flook. 



The upper floors of the wings of the Museum consist only 

 of single galleries extending along the whole front of the 

 building ; the galleries which run backwards on the ground 

 floor forming only a single story. 



