ACCOUNT OF A FIN-WHALE. 205 



but they diverged a little towards their termina- 

 tion behind. The flenchers having found no 

 blubber under the plaited skin, had left a consi- 

 derable portion of it untouched # . 



The back was rounded next to the head: a 

 little before the dorsal fin, it began to assume 

 a somewhat angular shape, and this form was 

 continued till a subordinate short ridge mark* 

 ed the commencement of the tail. The flat- 

 tened or extended part of this member, was, 

 as in other cete, horizontal, and divided into two 

 lobes. The breadth, measuring between the ex- 

 tremities of the lobes, was no less than ten feet ; 

 its depth was nearly three feet. 



The swimming-paws, measuring from the tip 

 to the bone or ball which was received in the 

 socket of the scapula, were nearly five feet long. 

 In breadth, at the widest part, they did not 

 extend to one foot, and they tapered to a pret- 

 ty sharp point. They were narrow at their 

 junction with the body. The socket which re- 

 ceived them, was large, being 4-| inches in dia- 

 meter. 



* The use of these folds in the skin of the thorax ? 

 which was long a problem, has now been ascertained. 

 They are calculated to permit the animal to swell up a 

 large pouch or bladder, placed in the forepart of the 

 body. When this bladder is expanded, the folds disap- 

 pear, and the creature seems then as if striped, the cover- 

 ed interstices of the folds being of a paler colour tha» 

 the rest of the skin of the thorax. 



