197 



in re Rorqual. I enclose herewith some notes regarding the Caith- 

 ness (Nybster) whale. 



As regards the ribs of Rorquals, as exemplified in the Copinshay 

 and Laman whale, allow me to call your own attention, and that of 

 cetaceologists and others to the followiug fact. 



The first pair of ribs is not articulated to the first dorsal vertebra, 

 nor to any vertebra whatever ; but the first ribs have their ends buried 

 in a mass of ligament, which connects all the upper lateral processes 

 of the cer™al and the first dorsal vertebrse together. 



No articulating surface exists on these processes on the first dorsal 

 vertebra ; the articulating surfaces are on the other hand well marked 

 on all the other dorsal vertebrse. 



I am certain that you will perceive some value in this observation, 

 of the accuracy of which I am positive, being put on the alert by 

 observing it in the first specimen I esamined. One sees the use of 

 the lateral apophyses and their great development in some species. 



Notes on Nybster JFhale. 



I was unable to do more in the examination of the neck \hanfeel 

 for some of the characteristic processes. The broad wiiig of the 

 second cervical was perforated by a hole as in the Copinshay and La- 

 man whales, and ui every particular that I could ascertain the ver- 

 tebrse corresponded with those of these individuals. The external 

 characters, colours, &c. also corresponded. The whale was afloat, 

 being in a creek where the tide did not leave it. Its length, which 

 I was too late to measure in person, was, I am assured, 65 to 68 feet ; 

 its pectoral /ro»j the head of hicmerus (the only Msę/M/ measurement) 

 uearly 8 feet. The length of the cranium was 15 feet. The whale 

 was for a finner exceedingly fat, the blubber or "speck" being 8 to 

 10 inches in thickness. These were aU the measurements I could 

 make, from the condition of the carcase. 



On my passage home, amid the thousand herring-boats of Wick, 

 lying becalmed in a glassy sea, we were exceedingly interested by the 

 movements of a very large Finner, apparently of the šame species as 

 the one I had just left. It rushed round us in every direction with 

 its upper jaw above water, blowing with great violence and noise, and 

 diving, sometimes tranąuilly, sometimes in a seething wave, created 

 by its fins and tail. 



It was evidently feeding on herrings, as every now and then it 

 would rush headlong into portions of the sea where the smooth sur- 

 face was broken by the shoals of fish. 



The bloįvholes toere at timesfiat and unprojecting, at other times 

 boldly protuberant, the animal evidently having the power of raising 

 or depressing these organs. As the protuberance of the spiracles 

 has been thought characteristic of species, this is worth noting. The 

 dorsal fin was exactly outlined likę those of the Rorquals previously 

 examined. The contour of the snout or upper jaw also exactly 

 resembled that of the Copinshay, Laman, and Nybster whales. This 

 whale was comjmted by the boatmeu and myself to be at least as 

 large as the Nybster whale. I have no manner of doubt but that 



