The White Whale. 



from the time of the whale's shipment from New York. Professor Garrod'a 

 official experience of the after-death symptoms of disease in the larger 

 mammals is, of course, very extensive ; and he says that he has known this 

 plastic, or grey pneumonin, to be fatal within nine days from its origin. In 

 this case it was probably brought on by the whale being exposed to the air 

 and to considerable vicissitudes of temperature, without the possibility of its 

 blow-hole being submerged during its voyage. The constant douche bath to 

 which it was, under the circumstances necessarily, subjected every three or 

 four minutes, would, no doubt, aggravate this by causing evapoi'ation from the 

 skin, and thus producing unusual loss of heat. 



In the lungs were a few thread-like worms, fi-om three to five inches in 

 length — apparently Strongylus filaria, a nematode generally found in the lunga 

 of porpoises, even in those unaffected by disease. 



The brain, which was healthy, was removed in excellent condition, and will 

 be preserved in the Hunterian Museum. Its weight, as ascertained by 

 Professor Flower, was sixty-three ounces, which is, as he remarks, about 

 thirteen ounces more than the average adult male human brain, and therefore 

 much larger than that of any laud mammal except the elephant.* In addition 

 to the two longitudinal furrows in which the inguinal mammaa are protected, 

 there are two other similar but rather smaller fosses parallel with them, and 

 about half-an-inch from thena on the outer side. These do not communicate 

 with any internal organ, and their use and purpose is not apparent. They 

 may possibly indicate the position of two additional rudimentary teats. The 

 dental formula was -f |-, i.e., there were eight teeth on each side of both the 

 upper and lower jaws. Only the sharp points of these protruded through the 

 gum; and it sometimes occurs that when, during the preservation of the 

 skull, the gums are removed, other teeth are found to have been concealed 

 by them, although above the level of the jaw-bone. The dentition of the 

 Beluga is very variable. The teeth of one, of which the skeleton is in the 

 Hunterian Museum, are -^ ^. 



In most of the whales the seven cervical vertebra are anchylosed, or united 

 together, and incapable of separate movement, but in the Beluga they are free 

 and unusually long, thus giving to the animal a longer and more flexible neck 

 than is found in other species. This is worthy of note, because a similar 

 structure in the Narwhal has been supposed to have been especially designed 

 to enable it to wield its enormous tusk, or " horn." As neither the female 

 Narwhal nor the Beluga have a tusk to wield, the explanation is unsatisfac- 

 tory. 



The Beluga has no real dorsal fin. It is represented, and the site it 

 would occupy is indicated, by a slate-coloured arched ridge, about sixteen 

 inches long, and not more than half an inch high at its most elevated part. 

 This compressed protuberance seems to be formed by the skin, on which the 

 epidermis is harder than elsewhere. The pectoral fins ai'e oval, broad, and 

 thick, and it is very evident that they can be of little use as propellers. The 

 caudal fin, which is the locomotor, is deeply forked in its hinder edge. 



* The question why an aquatic animal, in shape like a fish, and which seeks its food 

 in the great waters as do the less highly organised predatory fishes, should be endowed 

 with such great intelligence and a brain so cai>acious and convoluted, has, I know, pre- 

 sented itself to the iiiiuds of many thoughtful zoologists ; but no man whoso ojiiuion is 

 worth anything would, I believe, venture to oirer an explanation of it. I certainly will 

 not attempt to do so. 



