2. BtrBALjENA. • 93 



oblong, rather kidney-shaped aperture, which is very strongly plaited 

 on the hinder margin, and nearly as long as the bone. The periotio 

 bones, with the tjnnpanic bones in situ, are figured by Prof. Huxley 

 in ' Elem. Comp. Anat.' fig. 109, from a specimen presented to the 

 College of Surgeons by Dr. G. Bennett. There are three specimens 

 similar to this figure in the British Museum : — two, presented by 

 H. H. Eussell, Esq., as the ear-bone of the Sperm Whale ; and one 

 from South Africa, presented by G. Byham, Esq., to the Palaeonto- 

 logical Department. 



Var. ? In the British Museum there is a specimen of the periotio 

 bones, with the tympanic bones attached, which was received, withoat 

 any habitat, from Dr. ManteU, In several particulars it is very Hke 

 the specimen of E. australis ; but the hinder edge of the tympanic 

 bones, instead of being very thick and rounded, is much thinner than 

 any other part, and the periotio bones are much broader and more 

 expanded. It may be only a variety of K australis. I think it is 

 right to give a short notice of it, for the sake of drawing the atten- 

 tion of future observers to the peculiarity. 



Var.? In the British Museum there is another imperfect worn 

 tympanic bone, without any habitat, which resembles those of E. 

 australis in general appearance ; but the hinder margin is shelved off 

 and thin, instead of broad and rounded as in the typical specimens 

 of that species. This may indicate an allied species, or only a 

 variety. 



MM. Van Beneden and Adolphe Milne-Edwards inform me that 

 the first rib in both specimens in the Paris Museum, from the Cape, 

 has a single head, very like the second one. 



The skuU and cervical vertebrae of the foetus from the South Seas 

 are described by Prof. Owen in Cat. Osteol. Mus. Coll. Surg. ii. 440. 

 The skull of this foetus and the ear-bones of the adult are figured by 

 Prof. Huxley in Elem. Comp. Anat. f.l07atp.270, andf.109 at p. 273. 



Mr. Warwick has kindly sent me some notes and the following 

 measurements of a female whale of this species taken at False Bay 

 Fishery, said to be fuU-grown, and considered by the whalers as of 

 large size:— j^ ^_ 



" Total length 68 



Height of the body 14 



Length of the head 16 



Width of tail 15 6 



Length of ribs 10 6 



Diameter of gullet . ^ 2 



" I could not pass my hand through the gullet. Number of ver- 

 tebrae 52. From all the conversations I have had with the whalers, 

 I do not think the Cape Whale ever attains the size of the Greenland 

 species. These whales of the Cape I constantly found covered with 

 Tubicinella Bakenarum and GoronuUt Balcenaris ; but the Spermaceti 

 Whale was seldom or never so covered : they occur princigaUy on the 

 head, where they are crowded, and but rarely on the body, and then 

 only single scattered ones." 



