113 REPORT 1870. 



7'inthus populi, and appeared healthy : but there must have been constitutional 

 weakness, for of 16 which assumed the pupa state, only 6 produced moths ; of 

 these, 3 were males, 2 females, and 1 hermaphrodite. 



In form and colouring the influence of the female parent predominates in all the 

 specimens, one only having the margin of the wings strongly denticulated, as in 

 »S'. ocellatus. In the hermaphrodite specimen the riglit antenna is pectinated, and 

 the whole of the right side of the insect presents the characters of S. ocellatus, the 

 male parent, whilst the left or female side 'differs from an ordinary $ S. populi 

 only by a little more brilliancy of colour. The generative organs are much dis- 

 torted, and there were no ova in the abdomen. 



The author also exhibited a series of Hadena assimilis, Doubleday, taken 

 during the present summer in Scotland. This insect (possibly one of the forms of 

 Crymodes exulis, Guen^e) is interesting as a circmnpolar species, found abundantly 

 in Lapland, Iceland, and Labrador ; Scotland seems to be the southera limit of its 

 distribution. It is extremely variable, no less than IG forms having received dis- 

 tinguishing names ; and Dr. Staudinger states that out of 400 examples from Ice- 

 land and 20 from Greenland, in his possession, there were scarcely two alike. Only 

 the variety assimilis has yet been observed in the British Islands. 



Dr. Staudinger has described a larva as that of Crymodes exulis in the ' Stettiner 

 entomologische Zeitimg ' for July 18o7, p, 238, which has also been figured in 

 Milliere's ' Iconographie.' In its habits and strvicture, this larva resembles He- 

 vialus rather than one of the JIadenidce ; and as it is not clear that Crytnodes 

 exulis was actually reared from it, the author thinks it probable some mistake has 

 occm-red, and that we are stiU ignorant of the early stages of the insect. 



On the Steypireyor Wlidle of the Icelanders. By Henry Bird. 



The Steypireyiir of the Icelanders is identical with the Baltenoptera Sihhaldii of 

 Gray, the Rorqual of the Norwegians, and the Sulphur-bottom of the Americans. 



Its average size is about 85 feet long, and 12 feet to 15 feet diameter in the 

 thick part of the body ; it frequently, however, attains greater proportions : one 

 was caught oft" Iceland in 1866, having a length of 110 feet. They have been 

 estimated to weigh upwards of 200 tons — about the weight of 3000 men. I have 

 seen a foetal whale which weighed 1740 lbs., and measured 18 feet \h inch long. 



The colour of the Steypireyor over the back and greater portion of the body is 

 black, the chest and under parts being marked with greyish-white streaks, which 

 sometimes incline to yellow. They are occasionally seen of a red colour, but this 

 is owing to a red slime that covers the skin ; this slime washes off after death. 

 Such red whales are invariably very fat. 



That part of the skin or blubber situated under the throat is divided into pecu- 

 liar folds or wrinkles, which run longitudinally from the front of the jaw to the 

 umbilicus. They reach in height to the top of the pectoral fin, and are eighty- 

 two in number. This folded blubber is called Rungi by the Icelanders. 



The form of the Steypireyor is the very ideal of symmetry ; to compare it to that 

 of other whales, it is what a fine clipper vessel is to a mud-bai'ge ; consequently 

 it is capable of great speed. In their respirations they " blow " four or five times 

 at each rising, and then dive for ten or fifteen minutes. 



In sleeping, they float almost motionless on the water, breathing or spouting 

 feebly at regular intervals ; when I have so seen them, tliey have been in pairs, 

 and invariably lying side by side, the head of one to the tail of the other, I 

 presume for protection. 



The blubber is G or 8 inches in thickness, and that from a good whale will 

 contain 100 ban-els of oil. It is a common error to suppose that this oily covering 

 acts the part of a blanket for preserving the animal heat, at least so far as regards 

 the oil, for oil is^ a good conductor of heat. It is a significant fact bearing on 

 this point that the blubber of a mature fcEtal whale I examined did not contain 

 a trace of oil. Its real use, then, is as a storehouse capable of containing a vast 

 suppl}' of food. 



The following is, I consider, rather an interesting fact : I found the oil con- 

 tained in the blubber off the throat and tongue was nearly pure oleine, while that 



