n the Museum of the
University of Edinburgh. I wrote to Mr. Goodsir to re-examine this point
for me, for I did not find in my notes any confirmation of the
observations of Eschricht. Mr. Goodsir's reply to my note is as
follows:--

"University, Edinburgh,
Sept. 30, 1857.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"In the skeleton of the foetal _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 vertebrae 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 vertebrae 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 foetus.

"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
vertebrae 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,