1891-92.] Prof. Sir Wm. Turner on the Lesser Rorqual. 43 
dorsal fin it became laterally compressed. Behind this fin the sides 
of the body were still more flattened, and it was “ keeled” both in 
the dorsal and ventral mesial lines. The antero-posterior diameter 
of the base of the dorsal fin was 19 inches, and its vertical diameter 
in a straight line was 12 inches. The girth at the root of the tail 
was only 2 feet 10 inches. The tail itself possessed two large lateral 
lobes, separated at the posterior border by a mesial notch 9J inches 
deep. 
The flipper projected backwards and outwards from the side of 
the body, in a line with the angle of the mouth, and some distance 
behind it. Its anterior or radial border had a continuous convex 
curve from the shoulder-joint to the tip. The posterior border 
formed a convex curve from the axilla backwards, which reached its 
greatest projection about half-way to the tip, where the flipper had 
the greatest breadth. Some inches from the tip the posterior border 
was concave. The tip was attenuated. The dorsal surface was a 
little convex, the under surface was a little concave and some of the 
flirtings of the belly reached it. 
The ventral surface, as is characteristic of the Porquals, was 
fluted from the region of the lower jaw backwards nearly to the 
umbilicus. The highest furrow was on a level with the angle of the 
mouth, and passed directly backwards for only 10 inches. Below 
it the furrows gradually increased in length, and extended both 
further forwards in relation to the side of the lower jaw, and back- 
wards below the root of the flipper to the belly. Those which 
were nearest the ventral mesial line reached as far forwards as the 
symphysis menti. The furrow which extended furthest back was 
the twentieth in order below the articulation of the flipper, but 
it was not the lowest, for five furrows, gradually diminishing in 
their extent backwards, intervened between it and the ventral mesial 
line. The average breadth of the ridges between the furrows 
immediately below the angle of the mouth was about 1 inch, but 
further back some were as wide as 2 inches ; below the lower jaw 
they averaged 1| inch in width. 
Seventeen inches behind the end of the twentieth furrow, but in 
the middle line of the belly, was the umbilical depression, 8 inches 
long ; and 3 feet further back was the genital furrow, in the hinder 
part of which the orifice of the vagina was seen. The anal orifice 
