482 Mr. J. Couch on the species of Whales 



height of not less than 7 feet, and of the form I have described ; 

 and although accustomed to a fisherman's life for more than 

 forty years, he had never seen the like before. Another of our 

 fishermen saw one of these whales in the month of April, while 

 engaged in the drift-fishery for mackerel: his attention was 

 directed to the height of its fin, which remained above the sur- 

 face for a quarter of an hour, as the body continued its progress 

 beneath. The accuracy of these remarks, made by intelligent 

 but unscientific fishermen, is authenticated by a communication 

 made by the late Mr. William Thompson to the Annals, &c., of 

 Natural History, vol. xviii., where it is illustrated by a charac- 

 teristic sketch. Capt.Walker, who was Mr. Thompson's authority, 

 reports that he saw several of these whales, which came close to 

 his boat : two of them appeared, as comparing them with his 

 boat, to be about 25 feet long ; and they were so near, as to cause 

 him to be afraid that they would overturn his boat : this was off 

 Wexford. The back fin appeared to be from 10 to 12 feet high, 

 and there was a round, white spot on the back. They went on 

 steadily in the water, without rolling over, a circumstance which 

 implies some difference of structure from that of the whales with 

 which we are best acquainted ; and it is remarkable that this 

 habit should have attracted the attention of myself, and also of 

 the only fishermen who, as far as my knowledge extends, have 

 particularly noticed these animals. 



Sir Robert Sibbald quotes the ' Polyhistor' (of Solinus) as say- 

 ing that whales were so common in Britain, that the inhabitants 

 employed the teeth to ornament the handles of their swords, the 

 substance being polished like ivory. This could only apply to 

 the teeth of the family now under consideration; of which also, 

 according to Belon, or of whales in general, the bones were 

 commonly employed as pales for their gardens. It is probable, 

 however, that this excellent observer committed the error of 

 confounding a special instance with a general practice ; for we 

 can scarcely believe that whales were more abundant in the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth than in that of Victoria. 



(Family Delphinid^.) 



Genus Hyperoodon. 



BoTTLEHEAD. — H. Butzkopf, BclFs Brit. Quad. p. 492. H. ros- 

 tratuMy Gray's Catalogue Brit. Mus. p. 64; Thompson, Ann. 

 & Mag. Nat. Hist, for 1838, p. 221. 



In the year 1821, a specimen, which appears to have been of 

 this species, was washed on shore at Looe, in a putrid state, with 

 much of the tail and the dorsal fin gone. It measured 18 feet 



