202 PROFESSOR TURNER'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT FINNER WHALE 



indented by several longitudinal furrows (fig. 8). A well-marked sphincter was 

 observed beneath the integument around the anus. The mucous membrane at 

 the anal end of the rectum had a blackish tint. 



The eye was situated immediately above the angle of the mouth, from which 

 it was 1 foot 6 inches distant. The fissure between the lids lay antero-pos- 

 teriorly. The ear orifice was a narrow slit situated in a line behind the eye, 

 from which it was distant 3 feet 10 inches. The transverse distance over the 

 dorsum between the two eyes was 11 feet 5 inches, the corresponding distance 

 between the two ears was 13 feet 7 inches. 



The blow-holes were placed in the fossa between the two subdivisions of 

 the dorsi-mesial ridge of the beak. Two longitudinal slits or nostrils, each 

 large enough to admit the extended hand, were separated by an intermediate 

 septum. Anteriorly the slits were only 4 inches asunder, but owing to their 

 divergence the posterior ends were 15 inches apart, and the transverse diameter 

 of the septum was correspondingly increased. The upper surface of the septum 

 was marked by a longitudinal mesial groove. The antero-posterior diameter 

 of the blow-holes was 1 foot 6 inches. From the tip of the lower jaw to the 

 anterior end of the blow-holes, 14 feet 9 inches. From the anterior end of 

 the blow-holes to the mesial notch of the tail 64 feet. 



Colour. — On the dorsum of the beak and of the cranium, on the back of the 

 body, and for some distance down its sides, the colour was dark steel grey, 

 amounting in some lights almost to black. On a line with the pectoral flipper 

 the sides were mottled with white, and on the ventral surface irregular, and in 

 some cases, large patches of a silvery grey or milk whitish tint were seen. An 

 experienced whaling seaman, Mr Walter Roddam, who had charge of the car- 

 case, told me that he had repeatedly seen this kind of whale in the northern seas, 

 and stated that, owing to the silvery hue of the belly, it was known to the whalers 

 by the name of "silver bottom.""" The surfaces of the clitoris and of the labia 

 minora were mottled with black and silvery grey tints like the skin of the belly. 



The dorsal fin was steel-grey or black, except near its posterior border, 

 where it was a shade lighter and streaked with black lines. The anterior 

 margin of the lobes of the tail, its upper surface near the root and for the ante- 

 rior two-thirds, were black, whilst the posterior third of the same surface and 

 the interlobular notch were lighter in tint. The ventral folds had a light sepia 

 colour, and the furrows were not so dark as the ridges. The upper surface of 

 the flipper was steel-grey, mottled with white at the root, at the tip, along its 



* In the 2d vol. of Dr Scoeesbt's Account of the Arctic Eegions, p. 531, it is stated, on the 

 authority of Captain Day, that amongst the whales pursued by the southern whale-fishers is one called 

 " sulphur bottom," a species of Fin whale of great length and swiftness. Can it be that sulphur 

 bottom is a corruption of silver bottom 1 and that this whale frequents both the northern and southern 

 oceans ? 



