On two subfossil whales discovered in Sweden / by Wilhelm Lilljeborg.

  • Wilhelm Lilljeborg
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On two subfossil whales discovered in Sweden / by Wilhelm Lilljeborg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the upper end cloven or biceps and the loiver largely emarginated. Number of vertebrae probably about 60, all the cervical vertebrae separate. The atlas has the lateral processes above the middle and of a conical form. Only the epistrophaeus has annular side-processes. Number of ribs about 14 pairs. Of this genus there is as yet hut one species with which we are acquain- tecl, viz. the great Ostende- or Giant-Whale Flowerius gigas (Eschricht), Sibbaldius borealis Gray. By Gray it has been ranged in the genus Sib- baldius, but it differs so much both in exterior and interior characteristics from the Sibbaldius laticeps Gray and Sibbaldius Schlegelii Flower, that it ought in our opinion to be considered as the type of a separate genus. Its dorsal fin differs both in situation and form, and the lateral processes of its cervical vertebrae are different, &c. 4. Genus SIBBALDIUS, J. Gray. Form of body slender and elongated, ivith small pectoral fins, and dorsal fin of middle dimensions, and situated just behind the commencement of the posterior third of the body's length. Processus coracoideus and acromion strongly developed, processus coronoideus high. First pair of ribs with upper end cloven or biceps and the lower end not holloived out. Number of verte- brae 55—58. Lateral processes of atlas compressed, and situated in about the middle of the sides. The old individuals have the lateral processes on tf^ epistrophaeus and nearest adjacent vertebrae annular. Number of ribs 13 — 14 pairs. According to Flower and Gray we know with certainty two species of this genus, and tere is a third which according to Gray may perhaps be considered as belonging to it. The first, S. laticeps Gray, is from the North-sea and North Icy Ocean, the second, S. Schlegelii Flower is from the seas about Java; and the 3rd, s. antarcticus Burmeister, of which we know only the bladebone, and which therefore cannot with certainty be ranged in this genus, is from the seas about the south-eastern coast of South America, in the neighbourhood of Buenos-Ayres. 5. Genus ESCHRICHTIUS, J. Gray, including the species E. robustus (Lilljeborg) or Balaenoptera robusta Lilljeborg, of which more hereafter.
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