WHALE ROOM. 
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Most of the largest Cetacea belong to the group called Whalebone 
" Whalebone Whales," in which a series of horny plates 
termed " whalebone " grow from the palate in place of teeth, 
and serve to strain the water taken into the mouth from 
the small marine animals on which these Whales subsist. A 
fine representative of this group is the perfect skeleton 
of the Common Eorqual or Tin-Whale {Balsenoiotera muscidus) 
in the south-west portion of the room. It is sixty-eight 
feet long, and was captured in 1882 in the Moray Firth, 
Scotlatid. The flukes of the tail and the back-fin were preserved 
with the skeleton and are placed above the wall- case behind ; 
the small pelvic bones, and a rudimentary nodule representing 
the femur or thigh-bone, the only trace of the hind leg of this 
gigantic animal, are also preserved. The external form is 
modelled in plaster. In front is a skeleton and half-model of 
the Black or Biscay Eight- Whale {Bcdcena hiscayensis). Beyond 
this skeleton stands a skull of the Greenland Eight-Whale 
{Bcddena mysticetus), the species which yields most of the 
whalebone " of commerce, and also a small wooden model of 
the entire animal, on the scale of one inch to the foot. 
Eemains of extinct Cetaceans — notably the solid bony beaks 
of the skulls of the Beaked- Whales (Ziphiince) from the Eed 
Crag of the east coast of England — are placed in this gallery. 
A special table-case, near the Sperm-Whale, shows the curious 
ear-bones of various Cetaceans, both recent and fossil. These 
bones are alone perfectly sufficient to identify the kind of 
whale from which they were taken. In a case on the opposite 
side of the gallery is displayed the curious horny wart found 
on the nose of the Biscay Eight- Whale, termed by sailors 
the " bonnet." 
FiEST Floor. 
The upper floors of the wings of the Museum consist only 
of single galleries extending along the whole front of the 
building ; the galleries which run backwards on the ground 
floor forming only a single story. 
