The Scottish Naturalist. 149 



each its peculiar kind fixed on it. For instance, Megaptera 

 longimana, according to Eschricht, 1 is always infested with Dia- 

 de/ni, and a species of Otion ( Conchoder?na), while, on the other 

 hand, Cirripedes are never found on any species of Balce7ioptera. 

 Scoresby 2 says the Mysticetus found in southern regions (Nord- 

 caper) is often covered with barnacles, while those of the Arctic 

 seas are free from these shell-fish. In this he is borne out by 

 Eschricht and Reinhardt,3 who state that the Nordcaper is 

 alwajs infested by a Cirripede belonging to the genus Coronula, 

 and they direct attention to this fact, as one of the characteris- 

 tic distinctions between that animal and the common Green- 

 land whale, which is never troubled with Cirripedes. Darwin, 

 I believe, only admits of the existence of one species of 

 Coronula. It would thus appear that we may 'dismiss Balama 

 and Balcenoptera from the Cetaceans likely to have brought 

 Foster's Coronula to our shores. This will still leave three 

 large whales, either of which, perhaps, may have done so : these 

 are the Nordcaper, Megaptera, and the Cachalot. I am not 

 aware of the first of these ever having been stranded on 

 our coasts. The second has occurred but seldom. The 

 third pretty frequently, more especially it would seem, in the 

 17th and 18th centuries. But although the two former un- 

 doubtedly have these parasites attached to them, in the case of 

 the latter the evidence on this point is not quite so strong. 

 From the accounts given by Bennett4 and others, it would ap- 

 pear to be chiefly the pedunculated Cirripedes that have 

 been observed on the Cachalot. Warwick, in notes sent to 

 Dr. Gray, states that he constantly found the whale of the Cape 

 covered with Tubicinella and Coronula ; but the Sperm whale 

 was seldom or never so covered. Hamilton 5 says that " the skin 

 of this whale is so dense that usually large shells attach them- 

 selves to it as to a rock, and there fix their permanent abode. 

 These shells, which are very numerous, are sometimes mistaken 

 for white patches of the skin." Besides, from what I can learn 

 from men who have been engaged in the Sperm whale fishery, 

 I have reason to believe that Coronula, or Barnacles as they 

 call them, are met with on that whale. However this may be, 



1 Dan. Tran. Gray Cat. Seals and Whales. 2 Arc. Regions. 

 3 Cetacea, Ray Society. 4 Whal. Voyage. 5 Whales. Nat. Lib. 



