230 PROFESSOR TURNER'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT FINNER WHALE 



branches of this artery were found lying, along with distinct nerves, in con- 

 nection with the flexor and extensor muscles of the digits. 



The right common carotid (e) ran forwards for 6 inches and then bifurcated. 

 The branches should, I think, be regarded as the cervico-facial (k) and internal 

 carotid (/) arteries. The cervico-facial, much the larger, passed to the deeper 

 parts of the head, but gave off also a large branch to the face. The internal 

 carotid was torn across ; but branches arose from it which passed to a rete 

 mirabile in the neck. The state of the parts prevented me from tracing out to 

 their termination the branches of the right common carotid artery. 



The second branch of the transverse part of the arch was apparently a left 

 common carotid artery (c). It gave off a small branch to the side of the neck, 

 and then bifurcated 7 inches from its origin. The larger branch of bifurcation 

 was the cervico-facial (m), which divided into many branches for the head and 

 face. The smaller branch was apparently the internal carotid (n). 



The third branch of the transverse part of the arch was the left subclavian 

 artery (d). It gave off a large branch, the left posterior thoracic (o), to the great 

 thoracic rete, and then divided into the left axillary (])) and internal mammary (q) 

 arteries. The rete mirabile was not confined to the thoracic cavity, but ex- 

 tended upwards into the neck, and prolongations were traced through the inter- 

 vertebral foramina into the spinal canal. The large foramina at the roots of the 

 transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae were also occupied by considerable 

 masses of this highly vascular network. 



The posterior thoracic aorta ran backwards, and gave off the series of inter- 

 costal arteries. It then entered the abdomen and supplied the various viscera ; 

 but the distribution of its branches, owing to the injured state of the viscera, 

 could not be followed out. It was noticed that in the foetus the hepatic artery 

 was as large as the human common iliac. The abdominal aorta was prolonged 

 backwards as the great caudal artery, which was protected by the series of 

 arches formed by the chevron bones. From the caudal artery, opposite the 

 body of each vertebra in the foetus, two branches, which entered the middle of 

 its ventral surface, were traced into the ossifying centrum of each vertebra. 



It may not be out of place to refer to what has been stated as to the arrange- 

 ment of the great arteries, which arise from the transverse part of the arch in 

 some of the other Cetacea, where the vessels have been carefully dissected. 

 Knox,* EscHRiCHT,t and Carte and MacalisterJ have all pointed out that in 

 the Balaenoptera rostrata, three great arteries, the brachio-cephalic, left carotid, 

 and left subclavian arise from the transverse part of the arch. Knox also states 

 that, in his great Eorqual, the arrangement of the vessels arising from the arch 



* Catalogue, p. 18. + Die Nordischen "Wallthiere, p. 104. 



% Philosophical Transactions, 1867, p. 245. 



