RORQUAL. 59 



the poor whale, but the tide coming in and floating him off, he went to 

 sea, carrying with him every rope, " pick," and similar implement that Ard- 

 glass contained. He had sutiered badly, however, and was Avashed ashore 

 dead, at some distance from the scene of action. 



Dr. Burkitt of Waterford mentioned in a letter to Dr. Ball, dated 

 11th Dec. 1835, the recent occurrence there of two individuals — one 25, 

 the other 16, feet in length — of the B. Boops, and that a much larger whale, 

 supposed to be the mother, remained near the shore for some days. Dr. 

 G. J. Allman (now Professor of Zoology, in University, Edinburgh) 

 informed me in Nov. 1839 that in the preceding month of September a 

 whale about 34 feet in length was cast ashore to the east of Kinsale Head. 

 It was in a very mutilated state when he saw it, so that no description 

 could be attempted ; the plates of whalebone were observed to be very 

 short, about nine inches in length, but possibly imperfect, indicating, how- 

 ever, its being of this genus. 



In the Belfast Newsletter of 17 Sept. 1841, the following paragraph ap- 

 peared : — 



" We mentioned in a former number that a large ic/tale of the true Balcena 

 species Avas drifted ashore last week at Amialong, a sea-coast village about half 

 way between Newcastle and Kilkeel [County Down]. It measured 47 feet in 

 length, while the head alone, from the top of the nose to the remote extremity 

 of the skull, was no less than 12 feet in length. This immense monster had evi- 

 dently been driven from the Northern Sea, as it was quite dead when discovered, 

 and had a harpoon sticking in it. It has proved a rich prize to the poor fisher- 

 men of the district in which it was found. Several whales, of inferior size to 

 the one mentioned above, have been caught alive this season about the shores of 

 Dundrum and the adjacent coasts." 



The folloAving paragraph from the Galway Vindicator, copied into the 

 Northern Whig of 7th December, 1843, probably relates to one of these 

 whales as the largest of our species, although it is more than doubtful 

 that both size and value have been not a little exaggerated. 



" Whales. — In the course of last week, an enormous dead whale, measuring 

 157 feet in length, was stranded in fourteen feet of water, at Spiddle, on the 

 western coast, about eight or nine miles from this town, calculated to be worth 

 £1200 ; but before Peter Comyn, Esq., of Spiddle, on whose property it floated 

 ui, had been aware of it, the country people from the adjacent districts, as well 

 as the iidiabitants of Spiddle themselves, had it nearly cut up and taken away 

 — rendering it of httle comparative value." — Galway Vindicator. 



In the following instance, supposing the descriptions to apply to the 

 same individual, we have an exaggeration of 10 feet in a ncMspaper para- 

 graph. According to the N. Whig's extract of 21 May, 1844, from the 

 Southern lleporter, it appeared that 



" A huge whale, 84 feet long and 44 in girth, weighing at least 50 tons, was 

 captured by the flshermen, at Glendore, County Cork, on Sunday week, to whom 

 it will prove a rich prize." — N. Whig, May 21, 1844 — From Southern Rejjorter? 



But from the Cork Fauna we learn that 



" It measured 74 feet in length and 30 in girth. It was a male. Length of 

 head, about 18 feet; gape from point of nose to angle of mouth, IG feet. The 

 longest plates of baleen were 2^ feet, the shortest (i inches. Tail, 18 feet from 

 tip to tip. One small thick dorsal liu at a distance of 9 feet from the tail. The 

 colour was black above, and a mottled grey on the under surface. The skin of 

 the belly and under parts was thrown iiito very distinct longitudinal folds. The 

 pectoral tins were of enormous power, but their measiu-cment is not given." 



These particulars were supplied to Dr. Harvey by George Armstrong 



