Specimen of Sou'crhifs Whale. 281 



AdUI.T. FCKTI'S. 



feet. in. I'fot. in. 

 Length iif upper border of poctoral fin 



(nioasiirod alon<r curve) 1 T)\ 8 



Length of groove.s heneath lower jaw .. 11 f 



Distance between frunt endti of the above 



grooves 5 



Distance between hind ends of the above 



grooves Q\ 



Greatest dorso-yentral diameter {'2 feet 



8 inches in front of dorsal tin) 3 5 



Of the general history of the Ziphioid whales Sir W. II. 

 Flower ha.s j2;iveii an admirable summary in his jiapcr " Oa 

 the Recent Ziphioid Whales," whieh will be found published 

 in the ' Transactions of the Zoolo^-ical Society of London,' 

 vol. viii. p. 203 (1871), and " A Further Contribution to tiie 

 Knowledge of the existing Ziphioid Whales : Genus Meso- 

 plodon^^^ which appeared in tiie same publication, vol. x. 

 p. 415, in 1877 : and of the anatomy and, to some extent, of 

 the external aji])earancc Sir William Turner has contributed 

 most valuable papers, which have a])peared from time to time 

 in the ' Journal of Anatomy and Physiology ; ' but unfortu- 

 nately the specimens which came under the notice of this 

 excellent anatomist have never been in such a condition as to 

 enable him to give the exhaustive description of the exterior 

 appearance of the animal which we should certainly have 

 received had the material been at his disposal. 



The same may be said to a greater or less degree of the 

 continental naturalists, and Sowerby's type specimen was 

 described by him at second hand ; the two Bandon specimens 

 also were so mutilated as to be of little service to science. It 

 thus happens that the skeleton and soft parts of this species 

 are belter known than its external appearance. This deti- 

 ciency we have endeavoured, so far as the Overstrand 

 example is concerned, to supply ; but, as so many discrep- 

 ancies are noticeable between our observations and those 

 which have previously appeared, we venture to append some 

 observations on the published descriptions and original figures 

 of this singular animal. How far these discrepancies may be 

 due to differences of age and sex we have not sufficient 

 evidence to venture an opinion. 



SowERBY, Jajjes. ' The Britij-h Miscellany,' 1S04-1800, vol. i. pi. i. 

 Physettr hidens S •, Elginshire. — The figure in outline closel}' 

 resembles the Overstrand specimen, the general shape of the 

 body being almost identical, but the head is rclalively shorter 



