230 THE GRAMPUS. 



of Forth ; and according to Dr. Fleming, it goes 

 up the Frith of Tay nearly as far as the salt water 

 reaches, almost every tide at flood, during the 

 months of July and August, in pursuit of salmon 

 of which it devours immense numbers. Mr. Hunter 

 mentions that one twenty-four feet long was, in 

 1759, captured in the Thames; two more were 

 taken in 1772, one eighteen and the other twenty- 

 one feet long; and in 1793 another thirty-one 

 feet long, in the same river; whilst another, that 

 same year, was captured in the Loire, measuring 

 eighteen feet. One was caught in Lynn harbour in 

 1829. This animal was discovered with its dorsal fin 

 rising above the water. It was immediately driven 

 into the shallows and attacked by the boatmen; 

 but they not being provided with proper weapons, 

 despatched it with much difficulty, by means of 

 great knives and sharpened oars. The groans of 

 the poor animal are described as having been very 

 horrible, and the effusion of blood very great. Being 

 at length deprived of life, it was towed up the river 

 to the town. It was twenty-one feet three inches 

 long, following the curve of the back, and nineteen 

 feet in a straight line ; the base of the dorsal fin 

 was about two feet and a half, and the height four 

 feet ; the width of the tail was seven feet (London's 

 Mag. iv. 338). Though these animals are cautious 

 as well as daring, yet we believe such notices of 

 capture could easily be multiplied. It is stated 

 that they are not unfrequently seen in the Atlantic 

 Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea ; they are even 



