SPERM WHALES 207 



rock upon the coast of Brittany, is referable to this 

 creature. There is a story told of the Emperor 

 Claudius who engaged in battle with his pretorian 

 guards a monster of this species at the port of Ostia. 

 It can hardly be right to refer this animal to anything 

 but the species Physeter macrocepkalus, for there is no 

 suggestion, except by native Greenlanders, that there 

 are teeth in the upper jaw, and probably these teeth 

 are the rudimentary ones so common in the Sperm 

 and Ziphioid whales. Still it is alleged to possess the 

 hypothetical dorsal fin of the mysterious species 

 to be described later. Of this whale in December, 

 1723, seventeen examples were thrown up on the 

 shores of the Elbe. A more remarkable stranding 

 of Cachalots occurred on the coast of France in the 

 year 1/84. "On the i3th March'," writes Lacepede, 

 "were seen with great surprise a quantity of fishes 

 throwing themselves out of the water on to the shore, 

 and a great number of porpoises enter the harbour 

 of Andierne. The i4th at six o'clock in the morning 

 the sea was high, and the wind blew from the south- 

 west with violence. Extraordinary bellowings were 

 heard towards Cape Estain, which were audible in 

 the country at a distance of more than four kilometres. 

 Two men who were coasting alon^ the shore were 



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seized with terror when they saw at a little distance 

 some enormous animals, which were struggling with 

 violence and attempted to resist the foaming waves 

 which rolled them over and hurled them towards the 

 shore. . . . The fright of the spectators increased when 

 the first of these Cetaceans, struggling uselessly with 



