700 MR. W. H. FLOWER ON PHYSALUS ANTIQUORUM. [Noyv. 28, 
state of decomposition ; the cuticle was almost entirely lost from the 
surface, so that evidence of the original colour could only be obtained 
from isolated patches remaining here and there attached to the true 
skin, which was of a uniform dirty white hue. The surface was 
moreover in most parts covered with circular or oval pits, about an 
inch across and a quarter of an inch deep, in many of which fine 
parallel striations showed indications of teeth, apparently of Dog-fish. 
Friction against the shingly beach had in some places added to the 
destruction of the surface caused by natural decay and the attacks 
of the voracious little sharks. Thus the dorsal fin and the extremi- 
ties of the flukes of the tail were greatly injured, the former reduced 
almost to shreds. 
When I first saw the animal, it was lying much in the position in 
which it came aground, a little way below high-water mark. The 
ventral surface was uppermost, and more of the left side than the 
right exposed. The thoracic and abdominal regions were much dis- 
tended with gas, well displaying the capabilities for extension per- 
mitted in the skin by the characteristic longitudinal furrows, most of 
which were opened to their widest extent. These furrows at once 
pronounced the animal to be a Rorqual, and the small pectoral limb 
showed that it belonged to the subfamily Balenopterine. A little 
further examination convinced me that it was an adult male of the 
common species of large Fin-Whale (Physalus antiquorum, Gray ; 
Pterobalena communis, Eschr.). Its general appearance agreed 
very closely, as far as one could judge in the unfavourable position 
in which it lay, with the figure given by Schlegel of a young indivi- 
dual (40 feet long) of this species, stranded, in 1841, at Katwijk 
aan Zee*. It was, I should say, rather less slender in proportion 
to its length; but this was a point difficult to judge of in its un- 
naturally inflated condition. The lower jaw projected in a most 
marked manner beyond the upper, fully 18 inches. 
The principal measurements (in taking which I was assisted by 
my friend Mr. J. W. Clark, of Cambridge) were as follows :—Ex- 
treme length, from tip of lower jaw, in a straight line to the end of 
tail, 67 feet; from the point of the upper jaw to the anterior angle 
of insertion of the pectoral limb, 21 feet; between the latter point 
and the posterior canthus of the eye, 6 feet 2inches. Length of the 
opening between the eyelids 4 inches. Length of pectoral limb, mea- 
sured from anterior angle of insertion, 6 feet 9 inches; from head 
of humerus, after it had been cut off, 7 feet 6 inches. Extreme 
width of caudal fin about 13 feet, allowing for the abraded points. 
Length of the tail (or of the base of each fluke) 3 feet 4 inches. 
Depth of the cleft at the end of the tail, between the flukes, 3 inches. 
Height of the greatly compressed bicarinated caudal extremity of the 
body, 4 feet from the commencement of the lateral expansion of the 
tail, 4 feet 6 inches; hinder end of dorsal fin to the end of the 
tail, 15 feet; from end of tail to middle of anal aperture, 17 feet 
9 inches; from the latter to the hinder end of genital cleft, 2 feet 
7 inches. Length of the cleft 2 feet 8 inches; from anterior end 
* Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Zoologie, &c., 2tes Heft. 1843. 
