i 
4c 2 Mr. Hunter’s Obfervations on the 
outer: the exterior of the inner rows are the longeft, cor- 
refponding to tiie termination of the declivity of the outer, and 
become fhorter and (hotter till they hardly rife above the gum. 
The inner rows are clofer than the outer, and rife almoft 
perpendicularly from .the gum, being longitudinally ftraight, 
and have lei s of the declivity than the outer. The 
plates of the outer row laterally are not quite flat, but 
make a ferpentine line, more efpecially in the Piked Whale 
the outer edge is thicker than the inner. All round the line 
made by their outer edges, runs a fmall white bead, which is 
formed along with the whalebone, and wears down with it. The 
fmaller plates are nearly of an equal thicknefs upon both edges. 
In all of them, the termination is in a kind of hair, as if the 
plate was fplit into innumerable fmall parts, the exterior being, 
the longeft and ftrongeft. 
The two fides of the mouth compofed of thefe rows meet 
nearly in a point at the tip of the jaw, and fpreador recede late- 
rally from each other as they pafs back % and at their pofterior 
ends, in the Piked Whale, they make a fweep inwards, and come 
Very near each other, juft before the opening of the cefopha- 
gus. In the Piked Whale there were above three hundred in 
the outer rows on each flde of the mouth. Each layer termi- 
nates in an oblique furface, which obliquity inclines to the roof 
of the mouth, anfwering to the gradual diminution of their 
length ; fo that the whole furface, compofed of thefe termi- 
nations, forms one plane riling gradually from the roof of the 
mouth ; from this obliquity of the edge of the outer row, we 
may in fome meafure judge of the extent of the whole bafe, 
but not exadlly, as it makes a hollow curve, which increafes 
the bafe.. 
Th c 
