58 
WHALE ROOM. 
ordinary modifications in the form and relations of its 
component bones which the huge skull has undergone. 
Whalebone Most of the largest Cetacea belong to the group called 
Whales. cc Whalebone Whales/' in which a series of horny plates termed 
"baleen," or more familiarly "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 the whales 
subsist. A fine representative of this group is the perfect 
skeleton of the Common Eorqual or Fin-Whale {Baldenoptera 
m^isculus) in the south-west portion of the room. It is sixty- 
eight feet long, and was captured in 1882 in the Moray Firth, 
Scotland. The flukes of the tail and dorsal 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 Biscay Eight-Whale {Balcena biscayensis). Beyond this 
skeleton stands a skull of the Greenland Eight- Whale (Bcd^na 
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 excrescence 
found on the nose of the Southern Eight-Whale, termed by 
sailors the " bonnet." 
First 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. 
