218 Zoological Society :— 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



May 24, 1853. — Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Notes on a Cetaceous Animal stranded on the North- 

 east COAST OF Ireland. 

 By George Gulliver, F.R.S. 



On Saturday, May 14, IS.^S, a herd of cetaceous animals appeared 

 at Dundrum Bay, many of which got away, and others were stranded. 

 I saw on the following days about twenty-five of them lying dead 

 there on the sand. The largest was nearly nineteen feet, and the 

 smallest between nine and ten feet long. They were all furnished 

 with perfect teeth. The greater number were females ; in a group 

 of nine large ones, lying near together, six were females and three 

 males. 



I was told that their death-throes were dreadful ; they rose on 

 their tails, bellowed like bulls, floundered about, and spouted bloody 

 sand and water, as they were attacked with difTerent destructive in- 

 struments by the peasantr}^ From one of the animals, between six- 

 teen and seventeen feet long, a perfect foetus, presently to be described, 

 was taken, so that the breeding time of this species may be considered 

 as now determined. One of them had the iron head of a harpoon 

 imbedded in its back, and the wound completely healed over. In the 

 second large compartment of the stomach were numerous fish-bones, 

 completely denuded of all soft parts by digestion. The following 

 measurements may be useful for future reference : — 



Measurements of a Male. f. 



*' ft. in. 



Length from the snout to the end of the middle 



of the tail 18 6 



Greatest girth, excluding back fin 12 6 



Length of pectoral fin 5 



Breadth of base of pectoral fin 1 



Breadth of pectoral fin at one foot from its point 4 



Length of base of back fin 3 



Height of back fin 1 2 



Breadth of tail from point to point 3 10 



Measurements of a Female. r^ 



'' ft. in. 



Length from snout to end of middle of tail .... 16 



Greatest girth, excluding back fin 9 



Girth one inch behind eyes 5 3 



Length of each side of mouth 1 



From snout to eye 1 6 



From eye to blowhole 1 2 



From snout to base of pectoral fin 2 10 



The blowhole behind a hue intersecting the eyes 1 



