I 



observed on the coasts of Cornwall. 431 



Rigges — a name which does not occur in any of the ancient 

 books on Natural History. 



(Family Physeterid^.) 



Genus Physeter. 



Blunt-headed Blower. — P. macrocephaluSy Linn., Fleming's 

 Brit. Animals, p. 39 ; Jenyns' Manual, p. 44; F. Cuvier, Ce- 

 tacees, pi. 19 ; BelPs Brit. Quad. p. 506 ; Gray's Catalogue 

 Brit. Mus. p. 49. Humped Blower, Cornish Fauna. 



Dr. J. E. Gray says, " the dorsal fin or hump forms a very 

 obtuse angle, and is ill -defined, being about 10 inches in length 

 and 3 inches in height, there being also between it and the caudal 

 two or three quite small finlets.^^ But it is probable that these 

 finlets, humps, or irregularities, vary in number, and may at last 

 disappear ; and also that what is more properly the dorsal hump 

 or fin is more elevated and fin-like in the younger condition. 

 This whale grows to a large size ; but the only one I ever had 

 an opportunity of examining, which I supposed to belong to this 

 species, but of which I was prevented from obtaining a figure, 

 was less than 20 feet in length : it had run itself on shore in 

 pursuit of small fish, and was left by the tide. There is no par- 

 ticular account of the capture in Cornwall of an individual of 

 full growth, although in the eastern counties this has often 

 happened ; but it has certainly been seen at the entrance of the 

 Channel. When met with, it may be known by the enormous 

 proportions of its head, from which spermaceti may be extracted. 

 A specimen, which was called in the newspapers the lesser 

 Cachalot, 20 feet in length, was taken at Bopehaun, and had 

 300 mackerel in its stomach. 



Htgh-finned Blower. — P. Tursio, Fleming's Brit. An. p. 38; 

 Bell's Brit. Quad. p. 512. Compare Gray's Catalogue of Brit. 

 Mus. p. 48. 



This is a rare species, not often seen, and still less frequently 

 caught ; but although doubted by some, its existence as a species 

 cannot with any probability be called in question. I myself once 

 saw the dorsal fin of what could only be this species, as it is 

 described by those who have examined it more closely. It was 

 tall and slender, in shape like the trysail of a small boat, and it 

 passed along the surface for a considerable space without dipping 

 under, while the body was concealed below. Fishermen also 

 have informed me of a similar circumstance. In the month of 

 May, 1850, an observant fisherman told me that he had noticed 

 a cetaceous animal, the fin of which rose above the surface to the 



