Occurrence of the Bottlc-Noscd or Beaked Whale. 37 



the boss-like protuberance above the beak it was 2 J inches 

 thick; but subjacent to the blubber was a mass of much 

 softer yellow fat, about 9 inches thick, out of which the oil 

 could easily be squeezed. When this was cut through, the 

 space between the maxillary ridges of the skull was opened 

 into, and from it a quantity of almost pure yellow oil flowed. 

 Immediately in front of the blowhole and nasal passages the 

 sub-cutaneous tissue consisted of a thick and dense fibrous 

 layer, in which some fat was infiltrated. The skeleton of 

 this Hyperoodon, when cleaned, will be articulated and sus- 

 pended in the Anatomical Museum of the University of 

 Edinburgh. 



I shall now specially refer to some points in the external 

 configuration of Hypcroodon, and consider them in connection 

 with corresponding parts in other Ziphioids, and in the Sperm 

 whale. 



I have described on the ventral surface of the head and 

 neck of the Dunbar specimen a pair of shallow diverging 

 furrows in the integument. In the Belfast specimen (29th 

 October 1845), recorded by Mr William Thompson, Mr James 

 Bryce described " the marking at each side from behind the 

 lip, extending under the chin in the direction of the belly, is 

 14 inches in length ; in breadth it is 2 inches anteriorly and 

 9 inches posteriorly." By the term " marking " he obviously 

 meant the triangular area between the diverging furrows. 

 Mr Melville, who assisted in the dissection of the Alloa 

 specimen, stated, in a note recorded by Mr W. Thompson, 

 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." Esch- 

 richt referred to a similar pair of furrows; and the Eev. Mr 

 Beards worth saw them in the specimen stranded near Whit- 

 stable, Kent, in 1860. 



Eurrows of a similar kind were described by Sowerby in 

 the Mesoplodoii Udens stranded at Brodie, Elgin, in 1800.^ 

 They are figured as meeting anteriorly in the Irish specimen 

 of this whale recorded by Mr W. Andrews. Professor Eein- 

 hardt saw them in the specimen caught at Hevringholm 



1 British Miscellany of New or Rare Animals, vol. i., p. 1, 1806. 



