390 ACCOUNT OF A BELUGA 



no well marked transverse processes, and, except- 

 ing the atlas, are all uncommonly thin at the sides, 

 in the space between their bodies and articular pro- 

 cesses. The bodies, too, from above downwards, 

 have so little depth, that, with the assistance of 

 intervertebral substance, the whole neck, measuring 

 longitudinally, does not exceed, even at the ut- 

 most, seven inches. In an animal of much larger 

 size of the same order, if not of the same genus, 

 whose vertebral column I procured last season from 

 the Island of Inchcolm, the length of the neck, 

 consisting of seven distinct vertebrae, the first three 

 of which are, however, anchylosed, does not amount 

 even to six inches ; and, what is more, excepting 

 the atlas, the sides extending between their bodies 

 and articular processes, are not thicker than the 

 edge of a half-crown piece. This fact should teach 

 us to be cautious how we proceed to general con- 

 clusions, in transferring our reasonings from a single 

 individual to a whole species, or from a species to a 

 whole genus. 



The dorsal vertebrae are principally distinguish- 

 ed by articular surfaces at the extremities of their 

 transverse processes, where they join with the ribs. 

 Many of the ribs are likewise articulated with the 

 bodies of the vertebrae, as in quadrupeds and birds ; 

 but in this animal the three last ribs on each side 

 are articulated only with the extremities of trans- 

 verse processes. 



