Hyperoodon Butzkopf in Belfast Bay, 153 



cient in the ornament of eyebrows ; also, in the spiracle being 

 placed in the same vertical plane with the eye. 



In my j)aper before alluded to (p. 379), a simultaneous move- 

 ment or migration of Hyperoodons to the Irish Sea is recorded to 

 have taken place in the autumn of 1839, not more than two how- 

 ever appearing in company. In connection with this fact, I have 

 on the -present occasion only to notice the autumnal appearance 

 of the species in another year, and the occurrence of three indi- 

 viduals on the same day, though in localities widely separated, 

 the one being taken in Belfast Bay and the others in the Firth of 

 Forth. Just as I reached Edinburgh on the 31 st of October, and 

 was conversing with Dr. P. Neill — who had likewise borne his 

 part in describing British whales — the body of an Hyperoodon to 

 our astonishment appeared in view, and as we learned, was about 

 to be taken to the Zoological Garden, and exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere during winter. The blubber and soft parts had previously 

 been removed, the latter having been anatomically examined by 

 Mr. John Goodsir, and " preparations ^' of them made for the 

 University Museum, where the skeleton itself will eventually be 

 placed. This is said to be the first known occurrence of the species 

 on the eastern coast of Scotland. From the gentleman just named, 

 and Mr. Melville, his most able assistant in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Anatomy, &c. in Edinburgh University, I have learned 

 that this whale, killed in the Firth of Forth on the 29th of Octo- 

 ber, " measured 28^ feet in a line from the tip of the snout to the 

 middle of the caudal fin, not following the curvature, but as if a 

 plumb-line were dropped from one point to the other. It was a 

 female, and was accompanied by a young female (nine feet long, 

 measured in the same way) which was still sucking : the mammse 

 of the mother were distended with milk which appeared very rich 

 in butter, and tasted pleasantly.^^ Mr. Melville adds, that he 

 " forgot to ascertain the point at which the triangular process of 

 skin under the throat commenced posteriorly, but anteriorly it 

 reached to the middle of the lower jaw : the large teeth were not 

 visible, being hid under the gum in both." We have another 

 instance of a mother and her young being taken, in those de- 

 scribed by Baussard as stranded at Honfleur. I am not aware of 

 the occurrence of any of these whales upon our coasts in the au- 

 tumn or winter just passed, excepting the three noticed in this 

 communication. 



