STRANDED AT LONGNIDDRY. 205 



gases were disengaged, and consequent softening of the soft parts had occurred. 

 As the sternum is short, and only articulates with the first pair of ribs, and 

 as the inner ends of the remaining ribs diverge considerably from each other, 

 and have no strong attachments in the ventral mesial line, the great pressure of 

 the sea on the wall of the abdomen, as she was towed by the tail, would tend 

 to rupture the uterus and abdominal wall, to drive the contents of the abdomen 

 forwards towards the head, and to force the foetus into the position in which it 

 was found. 



Owing to the displacement of the foetus, the dissection of this animal does 

 not enable me to state with certainty the normal position of the foetus in 

 utero in this cetacean. Very little indeed is known of the uterine position of the 

 foetus in this group of mammals. In a communication made to the Royal 

 Belgian Academy,* M. van Beneden figures the position in utero of the foetus 

 in Globiceps. Its head is directed to the maternal genital orifice, its body is bent, 

 and the tail is folded backward under the thorax, so as to lie close to its flipper. 

 He believes that the foetus of Balwnoptera rostrata has the same position in 

 utero, and doubts the statement made by M. Boeck, that the young of rostrata 

 is born first by the tail. In the Longniddry Balwnoptera, on the other hand, 

 the head of the foetus was directed towards the head of the mother ; and unless 

 we suppose that during the displacement a complete revolution in the relative 

 position of its caudal and cephalic ends had taken place — an occurence which, 

 owing to the great length of the foetus, scarcely seems possible — the uterine 

 direction of the young one would have been with its tail towards the maternal 

 genital passage. 



The gravid state of the whale necessarily exercised an influence on its shape, 

 more especially by increasing its girth in the abdominal region — a circumstance 

 which should be kept in mind in comparing the drawing of this animal (fig. 1) 

 with those which have been given by other naturalists of the Finners which have 

 come under their observation. 



The form of the foetus differed in several particulars from that of the mother. 

 Its greatest girth was around the head, from which it tapered forwards along 

 the beak, and backwards to the root of the tail. From the unexpanded con- 

 dition of the lungs, and the flaccid state of the hollow viscera of the abdomen, 

 the thoracic and abdominal cavities had not attained their proper girth, and the 

 body and caudal end of the foetus presented a peculiar, elongated, worm-like 

 appearance. The dorsal fin did not rise so abruptly in the foetus as in the adult, 

 so that it was difficult to determine its exact antero-posterior length. Its post- 

 erior border had a well-marked falcate curve (Plate V. fig. 2). 



The foetus was a male. The penis, 11 inches long, hung pendulous, from the 

 ventral surface, and at each side of its root a crescentic fold of skin arched out- 



* Bulletins, vol. xx. 2d series, No. 12. 

 VOL. XXVI. PAKT I. 3 H 



