208 
Mr. Home’s anatomical Account 
rope had been tied tight round that part, and on each side of 
the fish, there is a scabrous ridge extending from this sulcus 
as far forwards as the posterior dorsal fin. The tail may be 
said to begin from this deep transverse sulcus ; it is vertical ; 
the upper portion is longest and narrowest. The thin edge 
of the tail has a jagged appearance, as if formerly wounded 
by the bites of small fishes. 
The proportions of these parts to each other will be seen in 
the annexed figure. 
In this fish no part of the skeleton can be said to be per- 
fectly formed bone, although the skull, which defends the 
brain, the upper and under jaws, and the vertebras, contain 
bony matter ; the vertebrae however in much the smallest 
proportion. 
The skull has no cartilaginous attachment to the upper jaw, 
so that it is readily separated from it, while the jaws them- 
selves are strongly connected by means of the joint between 
them. The skull, when the jaws are removed, is very small, 
being adapted to the size of the brain, which in this fish bears 
a very small proportion to that of the whale tribe. 
The vertebrae next the head are rather smaller than those 
a little further on. The largest are seven inches in diameter, 
the cavities between them containing about three pints of 
fluid. A particular account of the intervertebral joint in this 
fish has been already laid before the Society. 
On the posterior part of the vertebrae, there is a sulcus, in 
which a strong elastic ligament passes from the head almost 
to the tail. The canal for the spinal marrow is very small ; 
and on the anterior part of the vertebrae, below the anus, there 
is a canal, in which is contained the aorta. 
