Anatomical Structure of certain of the Cetacea. 403 



completing the history, or rather, I should say, in obtaining facts 

 sufficient for a mere outline of the structure of these animals *, 

 and as an excuse for wishing to record in the Transactions of 

 this learned body a few facts regarding the anatomy and physio- 

 logy of whales, which, compared with the mass of unexplored 

 inquiry, must be deemed comparatively meagre and scanty, and 

 of which fact I may venture to presume few can be better judges 

 than myself. 



Mr HUNTER, in the work I have just alluded to, says, " From 

 my want of knowledge of the different genera of this tribe of 

 animals, an incorrectness in the application of the anatomical ac- 

 count to the proper genus may be the consequence ; a tolerably 

 correct anatomical description of each species, with an accurate 

 drawing of the external form, would lead us to a knowledge of 

 the different genera, and the species in each ; and, in order to 



* Mr HUNTER, whose position in life enabled him more than any other person 

 to investigate the structure of the Cetacea with advantage, has remarked, in those 

 admirable " Observations, on the Structure and Economy of Whales," that he has 

 availed himself as much as possible of all accidental opportunities of ascertaining the 

 anatomical structure of large marine animals ; " and, anxious to get more extensive 

 information, engaged a surgeon, at a considerable expense, to make a voyage to 

 Greenland in one of the ships employed in the whale-fishery, and furnished him with 

 such necessaries as I thought might be requisite for examining and preserving the 

 more interesting parts, and with instructions for making general observations ; but 

 the only return I received for this expense was a piece of whale's skin, with some 

 small animals sticking upon it.'" P. 372. 



For my own part, I may say that all accidental opportunities of dissecting the 

 larger species of whales in this country have been denied me by a curious arrange- 

 ment, which I wish I could believe altogether accidental ; for, notwithstanding the 

 fact, very generally known, that all my leisure moments were constantly employed 

 in ascertaining the anatomical structure of various animals, it has uniformly happened 

 that the requisite information as to the stranding of any of the larger whales has 

 been brought to me last. And thus has it happened with almost all the opportuni- 

 ties which have from time to time occurred for the anatomical examination of the 

 rarer animals which have reached this country during the last ten years. 



VOL. XI. PART II. 3 E 



