3518 



The Zoologist — May, 1873. 



been down, and the lumps rose after it in regular order, beginning 

 always with that next the head, and rising gently ; but when they 

 sank they sank all together rather abruptly, sometimes leaving the 

 head visible. It gave the impression of a creature crooking up its 

 back to sun itself. There was no appearance of undulation : when 

 the lumps sank, other lumps did not rise in the intervals between 



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thera. The greatest number we cotinted was seven, making eight 

 with the head, as shown in the sketch No. I. The parts were 

 separated from each other by intervals of about their own length, 

 the head being rather smaller and flatter than the rest, and the 

 nose being very slightly visible above the water; but we did not 

 see the head raised above the surface either this or the next day, 

 nor could we see the eye. We had no means of measuring the 

 length with any accuracy ; but taking the distance from the centre 

 of one lump to the centre of the next to be six feet, and it could 

 scarcely be less, the whole length of the portion visible, including 

 the intervals submerged, would be forty-five feet. 



Presently, as we were watching the creature, it began to approach 

 us rapidly, causing a great agitation in the sea. Nearly the whole 

 of the body, if not all of it, had now disappeared, and the head 

 advanced at a great rate in the midst of a shower of fine spray, 

 which was evidently raised in some way by the quick movement 

 of the animal, — it did not appear how, — and not by spouting. 

 F. was alarmed and retreated to the cabin, crying out that the 

 creature was coming down upon us. When within about a hundred 

 yards of us it sank and moved away in the direction of Skye, just 

 under the surface of the water, for we could trace its course by the 

 waves it raised on the still sea to the distance of a mile or more. 



