210 PROFESSOR TURNER'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT FINNER WHALE 



which, when dried, had the appearance of gold-beater's skin. The deeper 

 layers contained more pigment than the superficial, and in those parts of the 

 skin where the colour was most marked the deep surface of the cuticle had a 

 rich black hue. When the epidermis was removed, rows of distinct elongated 

 papillae were seen ; and in vertical sections through the entire skin the rela- 

 tions of these papillae to the cuticle* could be studied (Plate VIII. fig. 29). 

 The papillae were filiform, and as a rule simple, but in some cases two or 

 even three papillae arose by a common stem, which then subdivided. They 

 were comparatively long, and their apices reached therefore much nearer 

 to the surface of the skin than might have been supposed. In some of the 

 sections I observed distinctly the small arteries of the cutis giving off branches 

 which entered the bases of the papillae and extended for some distance within 

 them. 



The blubber or subcutaneous tissue was composed of adipose tissue, for the 

 oil was contained in well-defined fat cells. These cells were supported by 

 bands of connective tissue, many of which possessed considerable breadth and 

 strength. Blood-vessels passed in some numbers through the blubber, partly 

 for its nutrition, and partly for the nutrition of the integuments on its 

 surface. The blubber varied considerably in thickness in different parts of 

 the subcutaneous tissue of the adolescent animal. On the sides and upper 

 edge of the lower jaw, it was from 10 to 16 inches. Beneath the ear-slit 8 

 inches ; along the ventral surface about 4 inches. On the top of the beak 

 and cranium 8, 12, and even 15 inches. In front of the dorsal fin from 12 to 

 16 inches, and behind this projection from 14 to 21 inches, which seemed to be 

 the maximum thickness. The thickness of the blubber at the tip of the caudal 

 spine was 3 inches, and at the symphysis of the lower jaw 4^ inches, so that 

 the length of the skeleton was within 1\ inches that of the entire animal. In 

 the foetus the blubber was very imperfectly formed ; and the thickness of the 

 subcutaneous tissue was almost uniform, on the belly not exceeding one inch ; 

 and on the back scarcely reaching two inches. 



In the older animal, an enormous mass of soft fat was situated within, and 

 formed a sort of fatty lining for the abdominal cavity. From the heat which 

 was disengaged by the putrefaction of the carcase, this fat was liquefied, and 

 ran in streams on to the shingle, where it again solidified, and was collected 

 into barrels. 



Mr Tait estimated that he had obtained from the blubber ten tons of oil, 

 and from the inside fat six tons, so that the pecuniary value of the whale from 



* In the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh are several specimens (161 to 164) 

 prepared upwards of twenty years ago by the late Professor Goodsir, one from the B. mysticetus, three 

 from a " Rorqual," probably the Balcenoptera mitsculus, which give most illustrative views of the fili- 

 form papillae of those animals. 



