The Scottish Naturalist. 1 09 



JZeydas, the Broad-nosed Whale of the whalers." This Icelandic 

 name of the whale is no doubt synonymous with Eschricht's 

 " Steypireythr." * Dewhurst gives a lithographic drawing of the 

 whale under consideration, which is said to be the only correct one 

 extant. It is a copy from a larger one presented to him by Mons. 

 Kessel of Ostend, by whose orders the original drawing was made, 

 previous to the dissection of the animal, in 1827. This figure 

 — which seems to me to have been overlooked — represents a 

 rather pretty mottled whale, agreeing, as it appears to me, very 

 closely with Professor Turner's description of the colours of the 

 Longniddry animal. It likewise makes a near approach to 

 Eschricht's " Steypireythr" as given by him. Dewhurst men- 

 tions a number of whales captured or stranded on the coasts, 

 which he supposed to be of the same species as -the Ostend 

 example. In some of these cases, it is more than likely, he was 

 mistaken. Amongst those thus claimed, however, was Sibbald's 

 Abercorn whale, of 1692. In Professor Turner's excellent de- 

 scription of the Longniddry animal, when comparing it with 

 other tinners, he notices the small number of vertebrae (54) 

 which is said to have been all that existed in the Ostend whale. 

 I have in my possession a somewhat large plate, containing 

 figures, by Scharf, of that animal and its skeleton. On this 

 plate the vertebrae are distinctly stated to be 62 in number, 

 and, whatever this may be worth, the figure at all events does 

 not belie the statement. The Longniddry whale was stranded 

 on the 3d November, 1869. The total length of the animal 

 was 78 feet 9 inches. The circumference was estimated at 45 

 feet (some say 33 feet). The pectoral fins about 12 feet long j 

 the tail probably 18 feet broad ; and the longest baleen, 2 feet 

 9^ inches long, and of a deep black colour, t The next whale 

 deserving attention in connection with this species is Knox's 

 Balemi maximus borcalis.% It is expected that Turner will 

 definitely settle the place of that specimen, in his forthcoming 

 paper on the anatomy of the Longniddry animal. Meantime, 



* Vidensk. Medde'lelser fra den Naturhistoriske, &c, 1867 ; trans, in Annals of 

 Nat. Hist. 1868. 

 + Since the above was written, I see from the report of the British Association 

 that Prof. Turner has identified the whale stranded at Aberdour, in July, 1858, 

 with his Longniddry animal. 



X Rorqualis borealis of Naturalists' Library, vol. xxvi. 



