THE LUNGS OF THE LARGER CETACEA COMPARED TO THOSE OF SMALLER SPECIES

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Abstract
The bronchial tree of the Cetacea is enclosed throughout by fused links of rigid Cartilage. The air sacs are large but variable in size in different spp. and each air sac has its own capillary net, the interalveolar septum being lined by capillaries on each side. The alveoli are constant in size in the several spp. In the large whales (Balaenoptera sibaldii, B. physalus, Physeter megalocephalus) the septa projecting into the central, proximal portion of the air sacs contain heavy myo-elastic bundles. In the smaller whales (Delphinus, Tursiops and Delphinapterus) similar but very much more delicate bundles are present. In the latter, an elaborate system of myo-elastic valves is present in the smallest bronchioles. These are absent in. the larger whales. The myo-elastic bundles may prove to be homologous to the delicate strands of muscle described in the ductus alveolaris of many other mammals.

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