456 



ACCOUNT OF A FOSSIL SKELETON 



alike. The apertureat E, in the fossil skeleton, cor- 

 responds, in some respects, with the blow-hole E, 

 though it has not its semilunar form ; and the groove 

 running from the blow-hole to the point of the snout, 

 which, in the recent animal, is filled with cartilagi- 

 nous matter, is distinctly observed in the fossil, 

 animal. Perhaps if the fossil cranium were compar- 

 ed with that of the dolphin, which La Cepede has 

 denominated Le JDanjphin Nesarnach, a more 

 striking conformity might be perceived *. 



No opportunity has occurred of comparing the 

 fossil pectoral fin, (fig. 2.) with that of the dolphin ; 

 but the descriptions of the latter, by Cuvier and 

 La Cepede, furnish sufficient ground for regarding 

 them as analogous f . 



* La Cepede, Hist. Nat. de Ce'tacees, p. 307. — Fossil 

 heads have been found at Whitby, bearing a stronger re- 

 semblance to that of the Charmouth animal, and perhaps 

 to that of the Dolphin, than the present fossil cranium. 

 An interesting specimen of this kind, found near Whitby, 

 about two years ago, is now in the possession of Thomas 

 Hinderwell, Esq. Scarborough. In that fossil animal, the 

 top of the cranium is elevated, and the sockets for the eyes 

 are remarkably distinct. An engraving of that fossil ani- 

 mal, and of other interesting specimens, will be given in 

 the Geology of the Yorkshire Coast, about to be published 

 by the writer of this paper, in conjunction with Mr Bird. 



f " The bones of the carpus in the Dolphins, and other 

 cetacea, are very much flattened ; almost all of a hexagonal 



