418 PHYSETERID^E. 



preserved at DunstafFnage Castle, as recorded by Prof. 

 Turner. The much decomposed carcase of a large male 

 was washed ashore in Caithnesshire, near Thurso, in 

 July 1863, and its skeleton, which was presented by 

 Capt. Macdonald to the British Museum, is described 

 by Prof. Flower in his memoir. Lastly, a large example 

 was stranded in Loch Scavaig, Isle of Skye, in July 

 1871, and a portion of its skeleton was secured by Prof. 

 Turner, as recorded by him in the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



The Sperm- Whale is well known as yielding the pecu- 

 liar and useful substance from which it takes its common 

 name. The general form of its skull, which is larger in 

 proportion to the body than that of any known animal, 

 has been aptly compared by Mr. Flower to " a huge 

 pointed slipper, with a high heel-piece and the front part 

 trodden down." The concavity of this " slipper " is 

 formed by the raised edges of the maxillary bones, and in 

 it lies the "spermaceti," contained in a thick bag divided 

 into compartments by membranous partitions. This 

 spermaceti, or " head-matter " as it is called by the 

 whalers, is in a fluid state when the animal is alive, and 

 when a Whale is killed an opening is made in the upper 

 part of its head and the liquor is baled out in buckets, 

 but it solidifies on cooling. Another substance of some 

 value is produced by this animal, called, from its colour 

 and smell, ambergris. It is found in the intestines, or 

 more frequently is collected on the shores of those seas 

 which are frequented by the Cachelot. There is now no 

 doubt that ambergris is a kind of bezoar, formed from 

 the cuttlefish, which form the principal food of this species, 

 the nucleus of the mass being usually the beak of one 

 of these Cephalopods. It was formerly used in medicine, 

 but is now wholly neglected, as being useless and nearly 



