Description of a " White Fish;' or « White Whale:' 607 



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 drawn entire through the oesophagus. This cavity con- 

 tained a collection of stones, nails, pieces of glass, stones 

 of fruits, half digested fragments of the flesh, and a few 

 vertebrae of fishes, also other substances, which had been 

 doubtless swallowed after entering the tank. 



The stomach has the complication usual among ceta- 

 ceans, being provided with five cavities : — first, most ca- 

 pacious, oblong, twenty-one inches in length by twelve 

 inches in its shortest diameter, lined with cuticle ; second, 

 very thick and fleshy, eighteen inches long and five inches 

 in diameter ; third, quite small, three inches by one and 

 one half; fourth, seven inches by three ; and fifth, having 

 the form of an intestine, eighteen inches by three inches. 



The length of the intestines is sixty feet, the coats of 

 which are very thick and muscular; the valvulae conni- 

 ventes of the upper portion are strongly marked, but 

 there is no well-defined difference between laro;e and 

 small intestines, nor any valve to separate them. 



The liver is remarkably flat, having a transverse di- 

 ameter of twenty-four inches, and an antero-posterior of 

 about eighteen inches ; in its thickest part it measures 

 but little over two inches. The hepatic veins are re- 

 markable for their gi*eat size, and continue large even 

 near the anterior borders of the organ, in which respect 

 they resemble the corresponding parts in the seals. The 

 umbilical vein, forming the round ligament of the liver, 

 was freely open and filled with blood. This condition was 

 noticed by Dr. J. B. S. Jackson in his dissections of ceta- 

 ceans, an account of which was published in the Boston 

 Journal of Natural History, Vol. V. p. 137. 



The heart, when compared with the size of the animal, 

 is remarkable for its volume and capacity. It was inject- 

 ed, and required thirteen pounds of tallow to fill its cav- 

 ities. The auricles are very large and prominent ; the 

 ventricles are much flattened from before backwards, and 



