| OCR Text |
Show 1869.] OF THE COMMON FIN-WHALE. 609 There are fifteen pairs of ribs. The first, second, and third have a capitular process extending about halfway from the ends of the transverse processes to the bodies of the vertebrae. The first is 50" in its greatest length in a straight line, and 12" broad at the lower end- It is simple, showing no trace of the coalition of a cervical rib with it. The last pair were quite rudimentary and unconnected with the spinal column, corresponding in position with the middle third of the fourteenth pair. They are pointed at the upper end, but shaped like the other ribs below. The length of that on the right side is 19 V , of the left 27". A figure of the sternum is given in P. Z. S. 1864, p. 393. Its anterior part is expanded laterally into two broad wings ; and it has a long narrow posterior process. Its extreme breadth is 24", and its length 21f". The ankylosed basihyal and thyro-hyals measure 34" across, and 114/' in greatest length from before backwards. The stylo-hyals are 16^" long, and 4" in greatest thickness. The scapula is 51" in breadth, and 29" in height; from the posterior superior angle to the end of the acromium process is 464/', from the hinder edge of the glenoid fossa to the tip of the coracoid 21". The humerus is 20" in extreme length, and 11" in greatest diameter near the lower end. The radius is 314/" long, 7" in greatest diameter (at the upper end), 5^" at the middle, and 7|" at the lower end. The ulna is 36" in extreme length, 29^" from the middle of its articulation with the humerus, 9^" in width at the olecranon, 4" at the middle, and 64/' at the lower end. The lower epiphyses of the ulna and radius are quite separate from the shafts. There are five principal ossifications in each carpus, three in the proximal and two (smaller) in the distal row, besides a minute (pisiform ?) nodule situated on the ulnar side of the wrist. There are four metacarpal bones, which measure respectively, beginning on the radial side, 4f", 6", 5", and 3|". The pelvic bones are each 18^" long, gently curved, with one end flattened and rather spatulate, and the other tapering and more conical, and with a prominent angular projection from near the middle of the convex border. 3. The third skeleton was prepared from the animal which was washed ashore on the south coast of the Isle of Wight in April 1842. A short notice of it has been given by Dr. Gray*; and it once received a visit from the distinguished Danish cetologist Eschricht, as mentioned in his valuable 'TJntersuchungen fiber die nordlichen Wallthiere ;' but no further description of it has ever been published. M y notes are brief, but they are sufficient to determine the species. They were taken on the 11th of last August. The skeleton belongs to the proprietor or exhibitor of the well-knowu gully in the cliff called " Black Gang Chine," about six miles west of Ventnor, and is at present in a stable attached to the house which forms the entrance for visitors to the " Chine." This must have been a considerably larger animal than the last, * Zoology of Erebus and Terror, p. 50; Cat. Seals and Whales Brit. Mus. (1866) p. 148. |
