418 PHYSETERID^. 



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 I860, 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 pecvi- 



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 



