5. PHTSALUS. 153 



third and fourth cervicals thinnest and of nearly equal thickness, 

 fifth rather thicker, sixth thicker still, seventh thickest, and the 

 thoracic vertebrae becoming gradually thicker. Ribs 15 . 15, first 

 narrower at the vertebral end, second, third, and fourth dilated and 

 produced on the inner side of the vertebral end, rest simple. Chest- 

 bones in three series ; first simple, second larger with processes, third 

 cordate, with the first pair of ribs on the hinder end. Vertebras^ 

 10 caudal, 15 with chevron, 17 lumbar, 15 thoracic, 7 cervical. 



A dead specimen occurred in the Channel, near Brighton, 63 feet 

 long, 29th December 1830. The baleen was called the gills by the 

 fishermen at Brighton. — Mantell, Mag. N. H. iv. 163. At Overstrand, 

 Norfolk, March 1822; length 57 feet, pectoral Q^ feet. And at 

 Cromer, autumn 1822. 



M. Yan Beneden described the skeleton of a whale found by the 

 fishermen near the Isle Urk on the 23rd November 1851, and 

 fioated to the Isle Vlieland, which is now mounted in the Gardens 

 at Antwerp. 



" It is a male, 22 metres long and 12 metres in circumference, and 

 the head 5| metres. The head and back bluish grey ; the belly white. 

 The dorsal was half a metre long, and 3 metres from the tail. 



" The skeleton is 21 metres long. The baleen black, white on the 

 inner side, the front plates all white. Skull like that described by 

 Eudolphi (?). Cervical vertebrae 7, all free, of the same thickness 

 (not complete) ; the second with enormous transverse apophyses, 

 40 centimetres wide, with a perforation 18 centimetres in diameter. 

 The i^third, fourth, fifth, and sixth with a circle ; in the fourth to 

 the seventh the apophyses diminish consecutively in length ; in the 

 seventh the circle is incomplete. 



" The vertebrae 61. The dorsal 14 or 15 ; the body of the first very 

 thin, like the cervical, gradually becoming thicker. The lumbar 

 vertebrae 15, very large and strong, with 17 chevron bones. The 

 ribs 1 4, or perhaps 15 pairs ; the first simple, without any appearance 

 of ossification. The sternum triangular, short in front, and subtri- 

 foliate, without any hole. No lacrymal bone." 



Eschricht has observed that the number of vertebrae in whalea 

 varies according to the species, but is fixed in each, there being the 

 same number in the foetus as in the adult. 



" In the Zoological Gardens at Antwerp is a very fine articulated 

 skeleton of a male {Physalus antiquorum, Gray). The specimen has 

 already been the subject of a paper by Professor Van Beneden, en- 

 titled " Sur une Baleine prise pres de I'lle Vlieland, et dont le sque- 

 lette est monte au Jardin Eoyal de Zoologie d'Anvers " (Bull. Acad. 

 Bruxelles, 2^ ser. tome i. 1857, p. 390). 



" The skeleton is complete, with the exception of one of the pelvic 

 bones, the tympanic bones, the last pair of ribs (probably), and 

 one or two caudal vertebrae. As at present mounted, the interver- 

 tebral spaces appear to me too wide, especially in the cervical and 

 caudal regions ; and yet the skeleton measures in a straight line but 

 67' 6", viz. 15' 4" for the skull and 52' 2" for the vertebral column. 

 The length of the animal is given by Van Beneden at 22 metres, or 



