BLACK-FISH.—Physeter Lursio, 
dorsal fin is long, and slightly sickle-shaped. The head is remarkably large, and probably 
exceeds in length the fourth of the entire bulk. 
This species is of considerable dimensions when adult, as it is known to measure from 
fifty to sixty feet in length. In the lower jaw is a bountiful supply of teeth, white, 
powerful, and conical. These teeth are very variable in number, in different species, 
-arying altogether from twenty-two to forty-four. An equal number of cartilaginous 
sockets are placed in the upper jaw, into which the conical teeth are received when the 
mouth is closed. In the accompanying illustration of this species, the sockets of the 
upper jaw are engraved as if they were projecting teeth, instead of hollow cavities. The 
teeth that are placed in the middle of the jaw are larger and heavier than those of the 
front or base. Some of these teeth will exceed nine inches in length, and weigh more 
than eighteen ounces when perfectly dried. 
The root of each tooth is hollow in the centre to the depth of several inches, and is 
so deeply buried in the jaw, that the projecting portion of the largest tooth rarely exceeds 
three inches. The teeth range from seven to nine inches in length. These teeth are very 
white and polished, are conical in their shape, tolerably sharp while the animal is young, 
but become blunt as the creature increases in years and dimensions. 
The dimensions of one of these animals have been very accurately given by Sibbald. 
In total length it measured between fifty-two and fifty-three feet, its girth at the 
largest part of the body was rather more than thirty-two feet, and as it lay on the ground 
the height of its back was twelve feet. The lower jaw was ten feet in length, and was 
furnished with forty-two teeth, twenty-one on each side. Each tooth was slightly sickle- 
shaped, and curved towards the throat. From the tip of the snout to the eyes was a 
distance of twelve feet, and the upper part of the snout projected nearly five feet beyond 
the tip of the lower jaw. The eyes were remarkably small, about the size of those of the 
common haddock. As may be supposed from the popular name of this animal, the colour 
of its skin is almost uniformly black. The throat is larger, in proportion, than that of 
other Whales. One of these animals was thrown ashore at Nice, in the month of 
November, 1736. 
