ON SOME POINTS IN THE ANATOMY OF A 

 MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. By JOHN STRUTHERS, 

 M.D., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Aber- 

 deen. (PLATES I. and II.) 



PAKT I 

 HISTORY AND EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 



Parts Noticed and Order. 



Page 



1. History, .... 1 



2. Dissection of the Carcase, . 3 



3. Table of Measurements, . 4 



4. Size, 4 



5. Pectoral Fin, ... 5 



6. Dorsal Fin, ... 6 



7. Tail-Fin, ... 7 



8. Surface of the Abdomen, 



Prepuce, Mammillary 



Pouch, .... 8 



9. The Plaitings of the Skin, . 10 

 10. Dermal Tubercles on the 



Head, . . . .11 



11. Hairs, . 



12. Adaptations of the 



Jaws, . 



13. Cut-water, 



14. The Whalebone, . 



15. Blowholes, 



16. Eye, and Ear-hole, . 



17. Colour, . 

 Variations in the 



Colour, 



18. Skin and Blubber, . 



19. Parasites, 



20. Explanation of the Plates, 



Page 



11 



12 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 14 

 14 



15 

 16 

 16 

 17 



1. HISTORY. This Megaptera, a male, 40 feet in length, had 

 shown itself in the Firth of Tay, off Dundee, for five or six weeks 

 before the end of December 1883, when it was at last fatally 

 wounded. After about a fortnight it disappeared for eight or 

 ten days, then reappeared in the Tay, and during the three 

 weeks before its death disported itself freely in sight of the 

 inhabitants of Dundee, up and down the river, going up as far 

 as the docks. The attraction to the Tay was believed to be the 

 young herring with which the firth abounded at the time. 



From the newspaper accounts of the appearance and move- 

 ments of this whale in the firth, I had inferred that, although 

 very rare on British coasts, it must be a Megaptera longimana. 

 As described to me by witnesses who watched its movements, it 

 rose out of the water seemingly for two-thirds of its length, 

 almost perpendicularly, flapped its enormous paddles, and then 

 fell to one side, causing great commotion in the smooth water. 



