910 PRINCIPAL SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 
came to a free end ventrally. They formed a series of arches which entered into the 
construction of the sides of the thorax. As they varied so greatly in length, I give in 
Table II. the length of the right ribs measured along the outer convex surface from the 
vertebral end to the ventral end, as well as the chord of the are between its two 
extremities ; the measurements give the dimensions in feet and inches. 
TABLE II. 
1st Rib, | 2nd Rib. | 3rd Rib. | 4th Rib. | 5th Rib, | 6th Rib. | 7th Rib. 
Length of Rib 4 81 6. 82 |-7 010 9 84 10 1 10 2 10 1 
Chord of Arc 39 a 8k Ale 6 1| 6 1 | 5am 
8th Rib, | 9th Rib. | 10th Rib. | 11th Rib. | 12th Rib. | 13th Rib. | 14th Rib. 
Length of Rib : ; 9 8 9 lt 8 (e. 8 0 6 ll 5 43 2 04 
Chord of Arc ‘ 5 . 5 te ©) 5 73 5 8 5 63 5 5 4 6 2 0 
The right 1st rib was 7 inches broad at the sternal end, the vertebral end was 
attenuated and articulated with the transverse process of the 1st dorsal, the surfaces 
were flattened and the margins were rounded. The left was about 3 inches shorter 
than the right. The ribs increased in length and in curvature from the Ist to the 
6th, and then diminished gradually to the 14th, which was almost straight and 
was the shortest member of the series. The 2nd and 38rd articulated with only the 
transverse processes of their respective vertebre. The 4th to the 10th inclusive 
had each developed a neck which extended inwards beyond the surface of articulation 
for the transverse process, and reached the side of the body of its vertebra, to which 
it had been articulated ; it constituted the proper head of the rib; whilst the articular 
surface for the transverse process represented the tubercle of the rib. The 11th to the 
14th had each only one articular surface for the transverse process of its vertebra. 
No rib possessed two heads in the proper sense of the word, 7.e. was provided with 
two necks springing from a common shaft, each of which ended in an articular 
head to reach its appropriate vertebra. ‘The shafts of the 2nd to the 4th ribs 
were somewhat flattened, that of the 2nd was about 6 inches at its broadest part. 
Behind the 4th the shafts were more rounded and afterwards more slender. The 
12th and 13th had the shafts twisted, and they and the 14th were pointed at 
the tip. 
G.asco figured several ribs of the Taranto whale. Grax.us represented in Plate IIL. 
of his memoir a profile and dorsal. view of the skeleton of the B. biscayensis in the 
Cabinet of the Institute in San Sebastian. 
