This Whale, from the form and structure of the whalebone, cannot be a Finner, but is certainly, as I arranged it, a true Right Whale, very nearly allied to the Right Whale of Greenland, and of a very small size. The bones of this Whale would be a most valuable addition to the British Museum or any zoological museum. They appear not to be uncommon in the Kawau Islands; and the measurements of the skull are a valuable addition to our knowledge of the species.
This small Right Whale of the Antarctic Sea is the representative of the Right Whale in the Arctic Sea, and, judging from the length of the head, cannot be more than 14 or 15 feet long, while the Greenland Whale is from 50 to 65 feet long.
II. Baleen thick, not polished, with a thin enamel coat on each side, and a coarse thick fringe (cf. [p. 37]).
3. EUBALÆNA.
Eubalæna, Gray, l. c. p. 91; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 1; Lilljeborg, N. Acta Upsal. vi. 1867; Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 115.
First rib broad at the vertebral end. Tympanic bone square; aperture nearly as long as the bone. The first six cervical vertebræ all united by their bodies. The upper lateral process of the atlas subcylindrical, narrow at the base, recurved and rounded at the end; the lower lateral process narrow at the base, swollen and rounded at the end (Ostéog. Cét. t. 1. f. 19). Carpus cartilaginous, with six carpal bones, a radius and cubitus, one radial and one cubital and two carpals in the second range (Ostéog. Cét. t. 1. f. 1). Scapula as long as broad, with a small cylindrical coracoid process, rounded at the end. Five phalanges to the middle finger, four to the index and ring fingers, four to the little finger, and two to the thumb. The first rib is simple at the upper and thin at the free edge. The nasal bone rhomboidal, moderate. Vertebræ 50-59.
1. Eubalæna australis.
B.M.
Eubalæna australis, Gray, l. c. p. 91, fig. 6; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 1.