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Show 606 PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON FOUR SPECIMENS [Dec. 9, tween the blow-holes and the end of the snout; in front of this the surface was quite flat. The snout was pointed, flat above and below, and rounded at the extreme end, which projected 6^ inches beyond the anterior limits of the baleen. On this part, instead of the rayed indentation observed in the Pevensey Whale, there was a roundish depression about the size of a halfpenny piece on each side of the middle line (see Plate XLVII. fig. 2). The blow-holes were situated in a deep hollow (wide behind and narrow in front) behind the before-mentioned median ridge, rather anterior to the eye, their front end being 10 feet 4 inches from the tip of the muzzle. Between them was a longitudinal median depression ; each aperture was 13 inches long, curved, with the concavity outwards ; and they were 2 inches apart in front, and 10 inches behind. The lower jaw terminated anteriorly in a sharp median ridge, like the prow of a fast-going vessel. On each side of this ridge, about 1 inch from the middle line above and rather nearer below, was a vertical row of short white bristles, about a dozen on each side, placed rather irregularly, but averaging f of an inch between each. Each bristle was ^ inch in length, but not more than | inch projected above the surface. They were set in distinct fossae, which were very evident, although most of the bristles had fallen out. I could detect no traces of hairs on any part of the surface of the upper lip. The baleen of the two sides was continuous around the front of the palate. The anterior narrow blades were 7 inches long, and placed in a very reclined position (see Plate XLVII. fig. 2, c). The longest blades were 1 foot 9 inches in length, including the hairy ends. There were about 350 blades on each side; and in the middle of the series 24 blades exactly occupied the space of 1 foot. As in the Pevensey Whale, the baleen was slate-coloured externally, and white at the inner edge ; so that the hairy surface, forming the greater part of the roof of the mouth, was all of a yellowish-white colour, except quite at the outer edge. Each blade was mainly of the dark colour, but near its inner border longitudinally striated with pale horn-colour. The position in which the animal was lying, with the lower jaw thrown much to one side, so as to expose the baleen-plates of the left side from end to end, enabled me to observe a structure which I did not see in the Pevensey Whale, and have not found noted in any description. Outside the main series of baleen-plates, growing from the "coronary band" ("Horn-Kranzband" of Rosenthal*), which encircles their base, was a fringe of stout coarse fibres, like those of the inner surface of the whalebone, but strongly curled. Each of these fibres, or hairs, when straightened was about 3 inches in length ; and the whole series extended from the angle of the mouth for 18 inches forwards. No trace of them was to be seen more anteriorly. The characteristic longitudinal furrows of the throat extended forwards on the side of the lower lip to midway between the angle of the mouth and the end of the chin; but in the median line they * Ueber die Barten des Schnabel-Wallfisches (Akad. d. Wissensehaft. Berlin, L829). |
