454 DR MORRISON WATSON AND MR ALFRED H. YOUNG 
FLowER* concludes that “the Narwhal and the Beluga appear to separate them- 
selves from all the rest by certain well-marked structural conditions, especially 
in the characters of the cervical vertebrae. As these two animals are in almost 
every part of their skeleton nearly identical,” Professor FLOWER is disposed “to 
unite the two genera into a distinct subfamily, placing it next to the Platanis- 
tide.” Unfortunately, such information as we possess regarding the soft parts 
of the Narwhal is of too imperfect a character to admit of the comparison being 
followed out. If, however, the number and arrangement of the nasal sacs, as 
forming an element in the determination of the affinities of different cetaceans, 
is deserving of the importance attributed to them by some writers, those of 
Beluga certainly seem to associate that genus with Monodon, and to separate it 
from the other genera above named. It should, however, be noted that the 
subdivision of the trachea into four bronchi in Monodon is widely different 
from that which obtains in Beluga and in every other toothed whale of which 
we have any knowledge, with the single exception of Pontoporia. In view of | 
the scantiness of the information at our disposal regarding the anatomy of 
Monodon, we deem it inexpedient to pursue the comparison further at present, 
and shall leave the determination of the exact affinities of Beluga to be decided 
by future observers. 
* Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. vi. p. 115. 
