230 
DES. A. CAETE AND A. MACALISTEE ON THE 
Eschricht and Reinhardt, in comparing this species with the Greenland Whale, Ba- 
Icena mysticetus , allude to and explain the great difference in the capacity of the bony 
framework of the mouth of these two animals, the enormous size of that of the latter 
being due to the immense vertical antero-posterior arch of the palatine surface, while in 
the B. rostrata the roof of the mouth has scarcely any appreciable curvature in this 
direction ; there is, however, no provision in the soft parts of the Mysticete for buccal 
or submaxillary expansion so characteristically developed in the Rorqual ; and although 
in the transverse direction the great outward lateral concavity of the anterior part of the 
lower jaw in Balaena rostrata is not sufficient to enlarge greatly the mouth from side to 
side, as it is counteracted by the posterior inward convexity of the bone, yet it seems to 
us that the great expansibility of the submaxillary pouch in B. rostrata compensates for 
the greater proportionate capacity of the bony framework in B. mysticetus. 
There was no appearance of any of those pits and fissures on the mucous surface of 
the palate described in B. mysticetus by Eschricht and Reinhardt, and supposed by 
them to be the rudiments of the Stenonian ducts, although in consequence of the pre- 
sence of the peculiar glandular mass, already noticed as existing between the muscles of 
the lower jaw, a very careful search was made, but in vain, for even the slightest trace of 
a duct. 
The mucous membrane of the roof of the mouth was extremely vascular, especially 
towards the wreath of the baleen plates ; eighteen or nineteen large blood-vessels, varying 
from the size of a goosequill to that of a crowquill, traversed the superior maxillary bone 
obliquely forwards and outwards, and were distributed to the formative nidus of the 
whalebone ; of these vessels the anterior ran obliquely forwards, the middle outwards, 
and the posterior backwards. 
The tongue was oblong and flattened, somewhat elliptical in outline; it measured 
1 foot 9 inches from base to tip, and 10 inches in breadth at its widest part, which was 
about the centre of the organ. It was completely fixed to the floor of the mouth*; 
the fraenum wide and short, extending to its tip, which was rounded and obtuse. On 
each side the mucous membrane was reflected from its edges to become continuous with 
that lining the general buccal cavity. The borders of the tongue were more distinctly 
defined anteriorly than towards its pharyngeal end, but in no situation could the organ 
be called free. Its dorsal surface was covered with a thick yellowish scaly epithelium, 
transversely rugose, and easily detached; this coat invested the small fungiform and 
filiform papillae, which were irregularly distributed all over the surface of the organ. 
The basement layer of mucous membrane displayed also considerable rugosity, the folds 
being small and placed transversely towards the centre of the tongue, but larger and 
more obliquely situated near its edges. No calyciform papillae were observed, and of 
the other two series the fungiform were the most numerous, and were better marked 
laterally than in the mesial line. 
* In a specimen of Globiocephalus intermedins ? recently (April 1867) captured off Newhaven the tongue 
was free and moveable both at its tip and edges. — A. M. 
