154 BAL.=ENOPTEKID^. 



72' 1". It exhibits all the signs of adult though not extreme age. 

 AU the epiphyses of the vertebrae are completely joined, as well as 

 those of the humerus and the upper end of the radius and ulna. 

 Those of the lower end of the last two bones are partially united. 

 The upper border of the scapula is still incomplete towards the two 

 extremities. The number of vertebrae is sixty-one, the last being 

 modelled in wood ; but from the character of the sixtieth I should 

 say that there ought to be two behind it. Seven are cervical and 

 fifteen dorsal, and, according to Van Beneden, fourteen or fifteen 

 lumbar, though the place of attachment of the first chevron bone in 

 the skeleton indicates but thirteen as belonging to this series. The 

 characters of the atlas and the other cervical vertebrae are quite 

 typical of the species ; the upper and lower transverse processes, 

 from the second to the sixth inclusive, are united to form complete 

 rings. The breadth of the atlas is 25" ; of the axis 44" ; of the 

 third 37". The aperture in the base of the great wing-like lateral 

 process of the axis is 6j" long and 3" deep. The inferior process of 

 the seventh is represented by a tubercle. 



" The cranium and lower jaw present little worthy of special notice, 

 except that the articular processes of the squamosals are unusually 

 developed laterally, giving great breadth to the posterior part of the 

 head. The dimensions are given at p. 166. A circumstance that I 

 have not observed in any other Whalebone Whale is that a consider- 

 able mass of bone of irregular form projects forwards from below 

 the nasal bones in the trough of the vomer, to the extent of about 

 two feet, only attached posteriorly. This is evidently an ossification 

 developed in the ethmoidal cartilage. 



" There are fourteen pairs of ribs present ; but as the fourteenth has 

 not the characters usually met with in the last rib, and as the fifteenth 

 vertebra has the end of the transverse process thickened and showing 

 traces of an articular surface, it is most probable, as Van Beneden 

 supposes, that the fifteenth pair has been lost, and therefore that 

 the skeleton, if complete, would present no exception to the normal 

 number. The first rib is simple, 51" in extreme length, and 13f " in 

 breadth at its lower end. The second and third have capitular 

 processes which reach nearly to the bodies of the vertebrae ; that of 

 the second is rather the longest. There are corresponding rough 

 tuberosities on the sides of the bodies of the first and second dorsal 

 vertebrae. The neck becomes rudimentary in the fourth, and obso- 

 lete in the iifth and all succeeding ribs. 



" The sternum is trifoliate, differing from the one figured at p. 110 

 chiefly in having the posterior process shorter, broader at the base, 

 and more tapering to the point. Its extreme length is 19", and breadth 

 24". The hyoid has the usual shape ; its extreme breadth is 38", 

 and length 14". The stylo-hyals are 19" in length, and 5|"in 

 greatest breadth. 



" One pelvic bone is present, suspended on the left side ; the other 

 is modelled in wood. It is 15" long and 3" in greatest breadth, 

 simple, straight, much compressed, slightly twisted on itself, broader 

 generally at one end than the other, but pointed at both extremities. 



