730 CAPT. D. GRAY ON THE BOITLENOSE WHALE. [DeC. 19, 



hundredweight of spermaceti to each ton of oil, being exactlj' the 

 same proportion that the Greenland Whale yields of whalebone to 

 the ton of oil. 



In the female, in front of the bones of the head there is a cavity 

 containing a small quantity of oil which is quite colourless and 

 twice the density of that rendered from the blubber. In the males, 

 instead of oil there is a solid lump of fat similar in shape to, and 

 about twice the size of, a large water-melon. 



The following is an analysis of their oil, as compared with sperm- 

 oil, prepared by Mr. Alfred H. Allen of Sheffield, Public Analyst 

 for the West Riding of Yorkshire. 



Bottlenose- oil. Sperm-oil. 



Specific gravity at 155° C -8763 -8778 



Flashing point, ° C 264 260 



Viscosity (seconds) 141 137 



Unsaponiiiable matter (spermyl alcohol) 39'76 40'50 



Sp, gravity of the unsaponiflable matter -8363 •8307 



Rise of temp, with sulphuric acid, " C. 41 45 



/'Pale brown, chan- Dark brown, be- 



I ging on stirring coming sonie- 



Colour-rcaction with sulphuric acid •{ to light violet, wliatdarker with 



I and again to tinge of violet on 



i_ brown. stirring. 



These results show that the closest similarity' exists between 

 genuine sperm-oil and the oil from the Bottlenose Whale. 



Their ordinary food consists of a bluish-white cuttle-fish, six inches 

 long b}' three inches in circumference, and pointed towards the tail. 

 The stomachs of the Whales that were examined contained nothing 

 but their remains ; and we never took one alongside without seeing 

 some of them floating out of their mouths. 



They evidently have a great depth to go to find them, judging 

 from the length of time that they remain away, and from the long 

 heavy blasts they make on coming to the surface again. 



They are much infested with lice about the fins and in patches 

 over their bodies. I send with this a piece of skin cut from the 

 front of the head of a young female, which will serve to show the 

 manner in which they adhere to the skin'. 



During the present season, in May and June, two hundred and 

 three were killed ; of these ninety-six were fuil grown males, fifty- 

 six cows, and fifty-one younger males. 



From a cow a young male was cut out, measuring ten feet long by 

 five feet six inches in circumference. The length of the mother 

 was twenty-nine feet. 



The heads of two males were measured round the eyes : one was 



^ [These agree exactly with Cyamus thompsoni, Gosse, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. 2nd ser. vol. xvi. p. .30, pi. iii. fig. 11 (1855), which was found upon the skin 

 of a Hyperoodon captured in Portland Roads on the 2nd of October 1854, as 

 recorded by Mr. W. Thompson (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xiv. 2nd ,ser. 

 p. 347, 1854). This is separated generically from the other Cyanii by Lutken 

 imder the name of PJatycyanms (Ohristiania Videns. Sellsk. Forhandl. xiii. 

 p. 279, 1871).— W. H. F.] 



