Sticklers. 8801 



The Otter near Liverpool. — A very fine male otter was captured this morning in 

 Bromborough Pool, just above this factory. He was seen on the bank opposite the 

 works, and after a sharp chase of two hours, in boats, was stunned by a blow with a 

 stone, and captured alive. He is still alive, but is, I fear, injured internally, as he 

 appears very dull and sluggish this afternoon. He was first seen near the mouth of 

 the Pool, consequently in fully salt water, and hence fr suppose him to have strayed up 

 from the Mersey. A partly grown otter was seen by a colleague, some two or three 

 years ago, in the small stream which runs into the Pool from Raby Mere, but was not 

 seen or heard of afterwards. There seems no reason to suppose this to be the same 

 individual, as it is scarcely probable that such an animal could enjjrely escape notice, 

 even if it could find subsistence, in so small a rivulet as that which forms the com- 

 mencement of the Pool. It is however, I believe, a very rare occurrence to find the 

 otter in salt water. Mr. Moore, of the Museum, to whom I go for. assistance and 

 information in all Natural-History matters, tells me that the occurrence is sufficiently 

 uncommon to render it worthy of notice. — W. H. Hatcher ; Price's Brombor&ugh- 

 Pool Works, near Birkenhead, September 15. — ' Naturalists' Scrap-Book] p. 105. 



[I suspect the persecution of the otter may hereafter be thought a mistake, like 

 that of the barn owl and some other birds. The otter revels on eels, and eels on the 

 fry of trout and salmon. — Edward Newman."] 



A Whale stranded at Speke. — On Friday, July 17th, a large specimen of a whale 

 was observed by some fishermen stranded on a sand-bank at Speke: its struggles were 

 so violent that no boatmen durst venture near it ; all they could do for a length of 

 time was to keep an eye on it. When dead it was secured with ropes and towed to 

 the shore. A notice in the daily papers attracted many people to see it, and for several 

 days it was kept for public inspection. I visited it on the 22nd, in company with Mr. 

 Turner, of the Royal Institution, and Mr. Rouleton, of the Lending Library ; and we 

 made an external examination, and took correct measurements as under. It was lying 

 on its back, a position very favourable for examination of the under surface, but 

 hiding all view of the blowers. I believe it to be a specimen of Johnston's hump- 

 backed whale (Megaptera longimana of Dr. Gray's ' Catalogue of the Cetacea 

 in the British Museum,' 1850, p. 26), and if so it would appear to have been, up to 

 that date, only once observed on the British coast, namely, at Newcastle, by Dr. 

 Johnston ; and it is remarkable that both specimens were females. The dimensions 

 are: — Total length in a straight line from snout to cleft of tail, 31 feet 4 inches; 

 length of gape, about 8 feet ; from snout to the eye, 8 feet; length of eye, 3 inches ; 

 from the snout to commencement of the pectoral fin, 11 feet; length of pectoral fin, 

 10 feet; extreme width of tail at the tips, 11 feet; from the snout to commencement 

 of the dorsal fin, or rather hump, 18 feet ; length of dorsal fin, 3 feet 3 inches ; from 

 snout to cloaca, 21 feet. I had no opportunity of examining the viscera, but learned 

 from the butchers that a quantity of shrimps were found in the stomach. The genus 

 Megaptera is distinguished from the genus Balaena, or true whalebone whales, by the 

 presence of a dorsal fin or hump ; by the belly being plaited or deeply grooved, and 

 the plates of baleen being broad and short, which characters agree with this specimen. 

 The longest plate of baleen measures about 2 feet long by b\ inches at base, and they 

 were so close together that I counted thirty-eight in the length of a foot. The crea- 

 ture was quite black, except the belly, which was mottled and streaked with white, 

 and the pectoral fins were milk-white, except a black blotch here and there. The 

 carcase was purchased by Mr. Brock, of Clement Street, Vauxhall Road, who has 

 VOL. XXI. 3 R 



