"University, Edinburgh,
Sept. 30, 1857.
"My dear Sir,
"In the skeleton of the fœtal Mysticetus now in the University Museum, the bodies of the axis and atlas have shrivelled up together, having evidently consisted of cartilage only; but the bodies of the five posterior cervical vertebræ are beautifully distinct, having well-formed osseous centres, which give them more of the configuration of the succeeding vertebral bodies than they present in their compressed form in the adult.
"The neural arches in the cervical region of this skeleton are five in number; the two anterior, which are distinctly those of the atlas and axis, have an osseous nodule on each side, where the transverse processes pass off. The third arch belongs to the third vertebra, the fourth and fifth to the sixth and seventh. These three arches are cartilaginous, and present no osseous centres. It is impossible to determine from the preparation whether the arches of the fourth and fifth vertebræ had been cut away in dissecting the parts, or whether they have shrivelled up in drying; but as the skeleton was very carefully prepared, and as these two arches are deficient (at least laterally) in the adult Mysticetus, I presume that the cartilaginous matrices were at least extremely delicate in the fœtus.
"I believe I have stated all the facts, afforded by this skeleton, which bear upon your questions. They appear to me to afford no support to the views to which they refer.
"Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) "John Goodsir."
The conclusion I arrived at is this,—that the actual number of cervical vertebræ in the Mysticetus is, as in most other mammals, seven, and that, notwithstanding their earlier fusion, they are originally quite distinct.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] It is stated that some of the last of these are of wood. The skeleton in Edinburgh is perfect.
[D] "The substance of the brain is more visibly fibrous than I ever saw it in any other animal, the fibres passing from the ventricles as from a centre to the circumference, which fibrous texture is also continued through the cortical substance."—Hunter, "On Whales," 'Animal Economy,' Palmer's edit. p. 373.