A SPERM WHALE IN THE MORAY FIRTH 29 



The gullet protruded into the mouth, about the bulk of a 

 man, while the length of the gape was 8 ft., and the height 

 of the head, from the upper lip to blowhole, 8 ft. The 

 blowhole was a longitudinal slit on the left side and nearly 

 straight, very slightly sigmoid, and 14 ins. long. The left 

 paddle was about 4 ft. long in front, but only 2 ft. behind, 

 measured from the armpit, and about 2 ft. broad. 



From blowhole to dorsal fin was 30 ft. The dorsal fin 

 was very low, being 3^ ft. long and 9 ins. in greatest height. 

 It was rather handsome, not a hump as described in old 

 specimens. From front of head to insertion of penis was 27 

 ft. The protruding penis was 4I ft. long, tapering to a point. 



The tail measured 1 1 ft. across the flukes, and the middle 

 of the tail was deeply notched, but the notch was not readily 

 seen, as the edges of the flukes overlapped. This is very 

 different in the case of Hyperoodon and Mesoplodon, where 

 there is no notch but a projection instead. 



The colour of the skin was blackish above, and dark grey 

 below ; but as decomposition had set in, the colour may have 

 slightly changed. The front of the head seemed a firm, 

 fibrous mass, like what is seen in the male Hyperoodoji, and 

 when I kicked it it seemed quite solid. No doubt they ram 

 each other with this huge buffer. 



It is high time that the truth should be told about the 

 size of Sperm Whales. Over thirty years ago Sir Wm. 

 Flower demonstrated that there was nothing in the world to 

 prove that Sperm Whales ever measured more than 58 ft. 

 long, when measured in a straight line. The straight line is 

 the only measure that is of value, as, when measured along 

 the curves of the body, no two measurements agree. I 

 thought the 68-ft. Sperm Whales were as dead as 13-ft. 

 tigers, but I see that Millais, in his recent book on British 

 Mammals, has revived them. Millais also states that female 

 Sperm Whales are sometimes found in British seas. There 

 is no evidence of that whatever, as all the individuals of the 

 species stranded or captured on our coasts during the last 

 hundred years have been males ; and he does not seem to 

 know that the female is very much smaller and a differently 

 shaped beast. The 57-ft. one he mentions was not a female ! 



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