i8z 



THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 



Whether Patriocetus belongs with the 

 archaic toothed whales or whether it 

 represents a precursor of the mysticetes are 

 questions that have occasioned some 

 difference of opinion. The deductions of 

 Professor Abel and others on the mysticete 

 relationships of Patriocetus are of little or 

 no consequence in so far as the actual 



shape of the braincase is similar to 

 Archaeodelphis and Agorophius. The most 

 obvious peculiarity of the braincase of 

 Patriocetus is the thin ledge-like projection 

 from the parietal that extends backward 

 from the supraorbital process to the 

 supraoccipital and overhangs the temporal 

 fossa. 



Fig. 16. Dorsal View of Skull of Patriocetus grateloupii, Upper Oliqocene, Linz, Austria 



(After Abel) 



precursor of the whalebone whales is 

 concerned, for this cetacean was contem- 

 poraneous with at least one member of 

 that group. The question to be settled, 

 if possible, is whether or not the mysti- 

 cetes passed through a stage of cranial 

 architecture comparable to the restora- 

 tions given by Abel. The published 

 photographs indicate that the general 



Several details of the restorations and 

 description given by Abel are so contrary | 

 to probability that they must await 

 confirmation by the discovery of a much 

 better preserved skull. These questions 

 of detail, if confirmed, will indicate the 

 existence of another unexplained factor 

 in the telescoping process. On the restora- 

 tions of the skull, the maxillary is not 



