166 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



whale, and which was published in the first volume of 

 the British Miscellany by his father in 1806, con- 

 sidered this animal as a new species of the Cachalot 

 family, and through Mr. James Brodie, the celebrated 

 naturalist (and late member of parliament for Forres), 

 he was enabled to add it to the present list of British 

 zoological subjects, it having been first observed by 

 this gentleman, from the circumstance of its having been 

 cast on his own estate, near Brodie-house, Elginshire. 

 On account of its great weight and bulk, he was only 

 able to send Mr. James Sowerby the head; which to 

 such an eminent zoologist was sufficient to distinguish 

 it from all others of the same genus, and to form a 

 beautiful specimen for Mr. Sowerby's Museum. 



On examination of the mouth, this gentleman was 

 both pleased and astonished to find, from the extraordi- 

 nary formation of its mouth, and the situation of its 

 teeth, that it was likely to prove a species not yet de- 

 scribed, and he was soon confirmed in this opinion when 

 it was exhibited to some of the most eminent zoologists, 

 at one of the converzationes of the late Sir Joseph 

 Banks, in Soho Square. 



From the description of this creature, according to 

 Mr. Brodie and Mr. Sowerby, it appears that the cuticle 

 on every part of the head and body was perfectly pellucid 

 and satiny, reflecting the sun to a great distance. Im- 

 mediately beneath the cuticle, the sides were completely 

 covered with white vermicular streaks, in every direction, 

 which at a little distance appeared like irregular cuts with 

 a small sharp instrument. It was of the male sex. 



The animal was oblong, black above, nearly white 

 below, sixteen feet long, eleven feet in circumference at 

 the thickest part, with one fin on the back. The head 

 acuminated. Lower jaw blunt, longer than the upper, 



