48 CETACEA. 



ft. in. 



Length from occiput to end of snout . . .46 



Breadth of cranium 2 4 



Height of ditto 2 



The crania of the four Hi/peroodnns preserved in Dublin are, I conceive, 

 referrible to one species, and are similar to those represented in Cuvier's 

 " Ossemens Fossiles," pi. 22o, f. 19 — 23, ed. 1834; F. Cuvier's " Histoire 

 Nat. des Cetaces," pi. 9 ; and Bell's " Brit Quad. " &c. p. 496. From what 

 has been already published on the subject any further remarks on these 

 specimens seem to be unnecessary. As supplementary to what appears 

 in Mr. Bell's work, it may be added, with reference to a specific character 

 about which there has been some obscurity, that in the individuals par- 

 ticularly described by Dr. Jacob and Mr. Thompson of Hull two teeth 

 were present in the lower jaw ; but in neither instance were they apparent 

 in the recent animal, but were detected only when the gum was cut into 

 in the preparation of the skeleton. 



Having heard on the 20th September last [1839] that a whale had been 

 captured at Ballyholme Bay, near Bangor (County Down), on the 16th, I 

 immediately set out for the place, accompanied by a scientific friend, Mr. 

 Hyndman. A small portion only of the animal then remained on the 

 beach, the head, tail, and entire skin, with the blubber, having been re- 

 moved. This whale was seen on the evening of the 16th September in 

 shallow water not far from the shore, and a boat with the small comple- 

 ment of three " hands " gave chase. Fire-aiTns were discharged at it, but 

 these apparently not having any eff"ect, its assailants bound a rope to a 

 pick-axe and drove this rude but successful substitute for a harpoon into 

 the animal, and about the same time managed to throw a loop of a rope 

 round its body above the tail, and thus with some little difficulty brought 

 it captive to the shore. Its length was stated to have been 24 feet, the 

 breadth of tail 6, the girth at the thickest part perhaps from 18 to 20 feet ; 

 the weight was estimated at about 5 tons. The entire upper surface was 

 of a blackish grey colour, the under parts somewhat paler. The stomach 

 is said to have contained the remains of shells, and what was described to 

 be like the " feet of fowls " — these I have little doubt were portions of the 

 arms or feet of cuttle-fish * [f^epiadce). Although it was late in the even- 

 ing when this whale was brought ashore, its captors at once commenced 

 taking off the blubber, so that unfortunately no person Avho would have 



* Dr. Jacob says of the Hyperoodon he dissected, that the oval cavity into 

 which the esophagus opened " contained a large quantity of the beaks of cuttle- 

 fishes, perhaps two quarts." Again, in the Catalogue of the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, p. 161, there appears — "Cuttle-fish-bills 

 found in the stomach of a Balana rostrataf" Apprehending that this rather re- 

 ferred to the Hyperoodon than the Baltena, I wrote to Dr. Jacob respecting it, 

 and learned in reply that the " cuttle-bills " so mentioned were those taken from 

 the former species by him — this is noticed merely to prevent error. In the 

 specimen of Baleena rostrata dissected by Dr. Jacob the remains of herrings 

 only were detected. {Dtiblin Phil. Journ.'iso\r. 1825, p. .343.) The Rev. Dr. 

 Barclay remarks of the round-headed porpoise {Delphimis mclas), that " its 

 favourite food seems to be cuttle-fish, of which great quantities are generally 

 foimd in the stomach." {Bell's Brit. Quod. 485.) In this species my friend 

 Dr. Ball has likewise observed the remains of these cephalopods In Mr. 

 Hyndman's possession are the beaks of cuttle-fish taken from the stomach of 

 a whale (but of what species I have not learned) captured on the coast of Wa- 

 terford some years ago. The consumption of these animals by at least two 

 species of our Cetacese would thus seem to be considerable. 



