SPERM WHALES 205 



and with many other names, must be mentioned as 

 an appendix to our account of Pkyseter macro- 

 cephalus. Considering that " there is not a bone, 

 nor even a fragment of a bone, that can be proved 

 to have belonged to a specimen of this gigantic 

 animal to be seen in any museum in Europe," it may 

 seem somewhat unnecessary to devote any space to 

 its consideration. Yet so much has been written 

 about this mysterious creature that it cannot be 

 passed by in silence. The species was established 

 on the good faith of Sibbald, who was certainly 

 accurate in his accounts of other whales ; thus there 

 would be & prinid facie reason for accepting his dicta, 

 improbable though they may sound. This creature, 

 according to him,- is a great whale not inferior in 

 size to the Cachalot, but differing from it in the 

 presence of a large falcate dorsal fin, and also 

 apparently by the presence of numerous teeth in 

 both jaws of equal size. One view is that Sibbald 

 was deceived by a Killer whale into forming this new 

 variety. But though Orca* grows to a large size, 

 none have been recorded of the length of over 

 50 feet, which is the length assigned to Pkyseter 

 tursio. The " High-finned Cachalot," as this dubious 

 whale has been termed, is a native of our coasts if 

 of anywhere, and an example was stated to have 

 been thrown ashore in Orkney in 1687, and other 

 observers have increased the mystery by saying that 

 it often comes ashore in those localities. Since so 

 good a naturalist as the late Mr. Thomas Bell admits 



* The Orca of Pliny appears to have been a Cachalot. 



