48 Proceedings of Poycd Society of Edinhurgh. [sess. 
bulged both laterally and inferiorly, so as to give an almost poucb- 
like character to the infra-oral region. The tongue itself was 
covered by a coarse, rugose mucous membrane. The ridges and 
furrows partly ran in a longitudinal direction and partly in curves 
from the sides towards the middle of the upper surface. The 
angle of the mouth was smooth and rounded where the integument 
turned in to become continuous with the oral mucous membrane. 
The inner surface of the lower jaw sloped downwards and inwards 
to the side of the tongue, so that the upper jaw with its baleen 
wreath could fit within the curvature of the mandible. No hairs 
were seen projecting from the integument covering either the upper 
or lower jaws. 
The soft palate, as had been previously noticed by Drs Carte and 
Macalister * in this species, and as I had also shown in B. sihhaldii, 
had no uvula. A little behind and below the posterior end of the 
baleen wreath was the bucco-pharyngeal opening, down which the 
closed hand with the forearm could without much difficulty be 
forced, for, as is the case with mucous canals when empty, the 
walls had fallen together when the tube was not transmitting an 
object. When the passage was opened up by the introduction of 
the fist, the opening into the mouth was seen to be circular. My 
assistant, Mr James Simpson, extracted from the gullet some 
stones, the largest of which was flattened, and measured 5 by 
inches in diameter. They were impacted some distance down, 
and on making inquiries I learned that as the whale was floundering 
in the shallows, stones had been thrown at it, some of which had 
entered the mouth and been partially swallowed. The curving 
inwards of the two halves of the baleen wreath at their posterior 
ends would have the effect of directing the food and other objects 
collected between them towards and into the bucco-pharyngeal 
opening. 
It will have been seen from the statements as to the rows of 
plates counted in the baleen wreaths in the different examples 
which I have referred to in this paper, that the number is not 
uniform in this species. The maximum was reached in the wreaths 
belonging to the specimens taken at Stornoway and Granton, whilst 
the young animal caught at Alloa had the smallest number. 
*'Phil. Trans., 1867. 
