294 Bottle-nosed Whale. By Dr Hardy. 



anterior root of the dorsal fin to the middle of the tail, 67 

 inches ; from the angle of the mouth to the tip of the nose, 

 14 inches; from the eye to the tip of the lower jaw, 27 

 inches ; from the eye to the point of the nose, 2 feet 5 

 inches ; from the flippers to the nose, 3 feet 8 inches ; length 

 of flipper, 15|^ inches. Behind the eyes the circumference of 

 the body was 6 feet ; before the flippers it was 6 feet 6 inches ; 

 at root of tail, 2 feet ^ inch ; across the root of the snout, 

 20 inches. Blowhole, a crescent on the top of the head. 



Mr Simpson uncovered the two front teeth in the lower 

 jaw, but by that time the mouth had closed. I had the 

 mouth opened while still flexible, and had a stone inserted 

 to keep it open. The lips were sharpish. Black tubercles 

 were visible at the top of the throat. 



The body was mostly smooth like a glazed waterproof, or 

 finely striated or corded lengthways. The tail was also 

 similarly ribbed across. Body black, belly gray, a white 

 patch on the belly before or about the vent. Eyes gray. 

 The gray colour varied according to its being dry or wet. 



As a Whale of this kind is not recorded from the Berwick- 

 shire coast, I wrote to Mr James Simpson of the Anatomical 

 Museum, Edinburgh University (who had ample experience 

 of those Whales during Sir William Turner's researches) on 

 the 7th November, and he came out on the 8th and re- 

 examined the specimen. He says they already have two 

 skeletons of the species in the Museum. Mr Simpson has 

 written a brief notice of our example in the " Annals of 

 Scottish Natural History" for January 1896. After alluding 

 to Sir William Turner's Account of this species in Scottish 

 Seas (Proc. Eoyal Phys. Society, 1885) he refers to this as 

 one of three others having occurred since. He says — "A 

 specimen, about 26 feet long, was stranded 2^ miles to the 

 west of Bo'ness, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, 

 on the 12th October 1895. Eight days afterwards I saw 

 the animal lying on the shore, but it was so much mutilated 

 that I could not make out the sex from external appearances. 

 On the morning of 1st November 1895 a young female, 15 

 feet 10 inches long, was found dead on the shore, perfectly 

 fresh, about a quarter of a mile east of the Redheugh 

 Coastguard Station, and 4^ miles eastward from Oockburns- 

 path, Berwickshire. Except the belly, which was of a dark 



