54 Messrs. T. Southwell and W. E. Clarke on 



regretted from the fact that (mainly through the excellent 

 use which Prof. Turner has made of recent opportunities), at 

 present, more is known with regard to the skeleton and 

 anatomy of the soft parts of Sowerby's Whale than of its 

 external appearance, added to which there are still several 

 points in the anatomy of this species which it would be de- 

 sirable to solve. 



On the 11th September last, on the same day on which 

 Prof. Turner made the communication to the British Associa- 

 tion before referred to, a Cetacean was left stranded in shallow 

 water just inside Spurn Head, at a spot known as the Chalk 

 Bank ; as the tide receded the animal made great efforts to 

 get off into deep water, and lashed up the sand with its tail 

 till a large depression was formed in which it lay. Observing 

 the commotion two men rowed up from a sloop which was 

 riding at anchor in the entrance to the Humber near to the 

 spot, and despatched it with their oars. The animal was seen 

 alive by several persons, amongst them by Miss Rose Smith, 

 daughter of the chief light-keeper at the Spurn, and Mr. T. 

 Winson, the coxswain of the lifeboat ' Spurn,' to whom 

 jointly we are indebted for the little information we have 

 been able to glean ; for, under the impression that it was a 

 common Bottle-nose Whale [Iluperoodon rostratus'i'), a man 

 named Hopper " chopped it up " to obtain the oil, and the 

 remains, with the exception of the tail, were set afloat and 

 drifted out to sea beyond possibility of recovery. From a 

 sketch kindly sent us by Miss Rose Smith and some inter- 

 esting particulars supplied by Mr. Winson, there is not the 

 slightest doubt that the animal was Sowerby's Whale, pro- 

 bably a full-grown male. 



As no full description of the external appearance of this species 

 has ever been given, we add the following particulars from the 

 scanty materials we have been able to glean. The total length 

 was 15 feet 9 inches, measured along curve; the greatest 

 girth, which was about midway between the two extremities, 

 was 8 feet ; from that point it gradually tapered to about 15 

 or 18 inches at the insertion of the tail, which was nearly 

 '6 feet across, its posterior border being entire and sliglitly 

 convex in the centre. The girth just behind the head was be- 

 tween 6 and 7 feet. These measurements, with the exception 

 of the first, are only approximative. 



The head is said to have been highest at the blowhole, the 

 beak tapering and 15 inches in length ; the lower jaw projected 

 beyond the upper, and was armed with two teeth, a little over 

 1 inch in length, and situated about midway between the end 

 of the jaw and the opening of the mouth. 



