A FEAST FOR THE PIGS. 259 



it is tlierefore rare to find tliem so late as the moiitli of 

 December. I suppose this Folkestone specimen missed 

 the last train and came by the carrier's carL The skin 

 is exceedingly hard, like shagreen : in fact, all the bony 

 matter seems to be concentrated in the skin. On dis- 

 secting the fish I found it was composed almost entirely 

 of a hard fatty substance, in section very like a 

 flitch of bacon ; the muscular substance was very white, 

 and there was a very little of it. I do not wonder that 

 this fish is so much sought after for its oil. I am told 

 that when seen at sea he is generally asleep, or pre- 

 tending to be asleep, but when the harpoon is suddenly 

 thrust into him he is awake in a moment and can swim 

 off at a tremendous pace. When casting this fish I was 

 in rather a difficulty. The fish itself being soft, I was 

 enabled to tumble him down the stairs into the casting 

 room easy enough, and we could bend him to get him 

 round the corner. The mould, however, with the fins ex- 

 tended, was so long, so heavy, and of course so inelastic, 

 that with the help of the dustmen I had the greatest 

 difficulty to get the cast out of the dissecting-room. The 

 total measurements of the fish were, fi'om tip of fin on 

 the back, to tip of fin on belly, four feet eight. From 

 nose to stern, three feet five and a half, and four feet two 

 in circumference. I could get no scales to weigh him, so 

 (deferring the task till late at night) we cut him up into 

 junks and weighed them separately. We calculate, that 

 altogether, he weighed close on a hundredweight. I 

 packed off the junks of his flesh in sacks to a friend. 

 This gentleman's pigs are among my best friends, as 

 they are particularly fond of fish, and eat up many of 

 my specimens when I have done with them. 



In my museum is a magnificent photograph of a 

 sun-fish, taken August, 1870, in Swanage Bay; extreme 



