Sydney Museum clearly belongs to a species of the genus Cato- 

 do7i ; and the problem to be solved is, whether it be identical or 

 not, as a species, with the Catodon macroceplialus abovemen- 

 tioned, which is an European whale. Of this species, C. macroce- 

 plialus, the British Museum only possesses one upper jaw, 

 and three under jaws. In the London College of Surgeons, 

 there is, according to Gray, the head of a foetus ; and at Paris 

 there is a nearly perfect skeleton ; — with this last, therefore, 

 I would more particularly compare our Sydney skeleton, 

 which has the great advantage of being also perfect, and the 

 history of which is as follows : — 



It was announced in the Sydney Herald of the 5th Decem- 

 ber, 1849, that the carcass of a sperm whale had been found at 

 sea and had been towed by the schooner Thistle into the har- 

 bour of Port Jackson. As the curator of the Australian 

 Museum, I considered that the skeleton would form a valu- 

 able addition to our collection ; so with the permission of 

 the Museum Committee, I lost no time in proceeding to 

 Neutral Bay, where the schooner then was at anchor, having 

 a male whale alongside. Mr. Williamson, the master of the 

 vessel, as soon as he w<is made acquainted with the object of 

 my visit, offered me most liberally the entire skeleton, with 

 the exception of the under jaw, which he was desirous of 

 retaining for the sake of the teeth. On my representing, 

 however, to him the advantage of our possessing a complete 

 skeleton, he eventually consented to my taking away the 

 whole of the bones. The blubber portions of the carcass 

 had, on account ot the oil, been removed previously to my 

 arrival on the spot, but as soon as I was in possession of all 

 that remained I proceeded to adopt proper measures for 

 cleaning the bones. After considerable difficulty in finding 

 persons willing to encounter so unpleasant, and as they 

 imagined, so unhealthy, a task — I at last succeeded in 

 engaging four Portuguese sailors, who had been some years 

 employed in the whale fishery. It was, however, then dis- 

 covered that a portion of the tail, containing ten of the 

 caudal vertebrse, and also that a fin, were deficient. The tail 



