VOYAGE OF THE ' ECLIPSE.' 135 



I have now to exj^lain how the bulk and weight given above 

 have been found, and how the number of the laminae of baleen 

 have been ascertained. First, with regard to the bulk and 

 weight. In 1885 a model was made on board the 'Eclipse,' 

 according to the directions of Capt. Gray; it was compared 

 frequently during the voyage with the animal itself as it lay 

 alongside the ship in the recent state, and the model was 

 intended to represent an animal of typical proportions rather 

 than one of very unusual size (see Plate II.). After having been 

 exhibited at the meeting of the British Association in Aberdeen 

 it was finally presented to the Natural History Department of 

 the British Museum. Before its leaving Aberdeen, however. 

 Dr. Struthers, of Marischal College, obtained an exact copy, and 

 through his kindness I was enabled to obtain a photograph of 

 his model, and to find the volume of water it displaces, viz. 2661 

 cub. in., the model being on a scale of one inch to the foot, 

 2661 cub. in. = 2661 cub. ft., being therefore the bulk of the 

 animal of which the model is a representation. Barely floating 

 when in the recent state, sometimes a little above water when 

 seen asleep, the weight of a whale is fairly, perhaps exactly, 

 represented by the weight of the volume of water which it 

 displaces. A cubic foot of sea-water at its usual sp. gr. 1*030 

 weighs 1030 ozs. x 2661 = 76 tons, which is therefore the weight 

 of the animal itself.* 



Next, with regard to the baleen-plates. "Whalebone under 

 six feet- in length realises only half the price obtained for that 

 exceeding that length; hence the distinction "size" and "under- 

 size." For a number of years the owners of the Peterhead vessels 

 have been in the habit of having the slips of bone brought home 

 by their vessels counted, and from results so obtained the average 

 number of slips per whale has been found. A number of these 

 results are given below, with the " size " of the whales from which 

 they were derived. Now, considering that the number of the 

 slips, too small to be worth bringing home (which I have called 

 "not marketable"), must be greater in a small whale than in a 

 large, it will be seen that, after adding a number (greater in the 



* This estimate is only approximate, depending on a model of f^j, and 

 on the assumption of the sp. gr. of the body being equal to that of its 

 surrounding medium. 



