Hyperoodon Butzkopf in Belfast Bay. _ 153 
cient in the ornament of eyebrows; also, in the spiracle being 
placed in the same vertical plane with the eye. 
In my paper before alluded to (p. 379), a simultaneous move- 
ment or migration of Hyperoodons to the Irish Sea is recorded to 
have taken place in the autumn of 1839, not more than two how- 
ever appearing in company. In connection with this fact, I have 
on the present occasion only to notice the autumnal appearance 
of the species in another year, and the occurrence of three indi- 
viduals on the same day, though im localities widely separated, 
the one being taken in Belfast Bay and the others in the Firth of 
Forth. Just as I reached Edinburgh on the 31st of October, and 
was conversing with Dr. P. Neill—who had likewise borne his 
part in describing British whales—the body of an Hyperoodon to 
our astonishment appeared in view, and as we learned, was about 
to be taken to the Zoological Garden, and exposed to the atmo- 
sphere during winter. The blubber and soft parts had previously 
been removed, the latter having been anatomically examined by 
Mr. John Goodsir, and “ preparations” of them made for the 
University Museum, where the skeleton itself will eventually be 
placed. This is said to be the first known occurrence of the species 
on the eastern coast of Scotland. From the gentleman just named, 
and Mr. Melville, his most able assistant in the Museum of Com- 
parative Anatomy, &c. in Edimburgh University, I have learned 
that this whale, killed in the Firth of Forth on the 29th of Octo- 
ber, “ measured 281 feet in a line from the tip of the snout to the 
middle of the caudal fin, not following the curvature, but as if a 
plumb-line were dropped from one point to the other. It was a 
female, and was accompanied by a young female (nine feet long 
measured in the same way) which was still sucking: the mamme 
of the mother were distended with milk which appeared very rich 
in butter, and tasted pleasantly.” Mr. Melville adds, that he 
“forgot to ascertain the point at which the triangular process of 
skin under the throat commenced posteriorly, but anteriorly it 
reached to the middle of the lower jaw: the large teeth were not 
visible, bemg hid under the gum in both.” We have another 
instance of a mother and her young being taken, in those de- 
scribed by Baussard as stranded at Honfleur. “I am not aware of 
the occurrence of any of these whales upon our coasts in the au- 
tumn or winter just passed, excepting the three noticed in this 
communication. 
