726 CAPT. D. GRAY ON THE BOTTLENOSE WHALE. [DeC. 19, 



of the College of Surgeons, and that of a young male to the Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge. The skull of a foetal male, which was being 

 towed overboard for the purpose of cleansing, was unfortunately 

 lost ; but next year it may be hoped that Captain Gray will have an 

 opportunity of still further contributing to our knowledge of this 

 interesting subject. 



The presence of spermaceti in the head of the Hyperoodon, though 

 subsequently denied by other observers, was noticed in 1779 by 

 Chemniz, who in his account of a male taken near Spitzbergen says, 

 after speaking of the oil, " Ausserdem aber auch aus seinem Kopfe 

 und den iibrigen Theilen einen Anker desjenigen reinsteu Oels, so 

 den Namen Wallrath oder Sperma ceti fiihret, gesammlet " '. 



Postscript. — Since the above note was communicated to the 

 Society, I have received a letter from my friend Mr. Robert Collett, 

 of the Christiania Museum, giving some account of a specimen of 

 Hyperoodon latifrons (as, according to the common belief, he names 

 it) which was washed ashore at the Loffoden islands in April 1881 ^ 

 He describes the head as perfectly quadrangular, just like a " Kuf- 

 fert " (portmanteau) with rounded angles, and altogether more like 

 that of a Physeter than an ordinary Hyperoodon, the anterior part 

 of the forehead being perpendicular, and the rostrum scarcely pro- 

 jecting beyond it. The body was proportionally slender as com- 

 pared with the large head. It will be seen that this description 

 exactly corresponds with Captain Gray's sketches (figs. 1-5, p. 728). 

 With regard to these drawings it is important to observe that, as they 

 were not drawn to scale, the bodies appear shorter and stouter than 

 they would if composed from exact measurements, the reason being 

 that, in any long object when seen from a single point of view, the 

 effects of perspective diminish the length much more than the 

 breadth. 



2. Notes on the Characters and Habits of the Bottlenose 

 Whale {Hyperoodon rostratus). By David Gray, Cora- 

 mander of the Whaling Steamer ' Eclipse.' (Communi- 

 cated by Prof. Flower, F.R.S., P.Z.S.) 



[Eeceived November 28, 1882.] 



These Whales are occasionally met with immediately after leaving 

 the Shetland Isles in March, and north across the ocean until the 

 ice is reached, near the margin of which they are found in greatest 

 numbers ; but they are seldom seen amongst it. 



Although it is not their nature to keep in amongst the ice, they 

 like to frequent the open bays, for the shelter it gives them from the 

 sea. Sometimes a point of ice overlaps them ; it is only then that 

 they are seen going out again towards the ocean. They are also to 

 be met with from the entrance of Hudson's Straits and up Davis 

 Straits, as far as 70° north lat., and down the east side round Cape 



' Loc. cif. p. 185. 



^ See " Meddelelsei- oiu Norges Pattedjrs i Aarene 1876-81," by E. Oallett. 



