STRANDED AT LONGNIDDRY. 245 



whale when I describe the skeleton of the Longnidclry whale, and to point out 

 certain other points of correspondence between them. I may on this occasion, 

 however, state that the small number of vertebrae, 54, described in the former 

 animal is obviously owing, as Dubar's figure shows, to the loss, in the prepared 

 skeleton, of several vertebrae in the caudal series. And there is good reason 

 for believing that the double headed condition of the first rib which Dubar 

 figured in this creature, and on the presence of which Dr Gray has to a large 

 extent based his genus Sibbaldius, is merely an individual peculiarity, and may 

 occur as a variety in more than one species of whale, just as it occasionally 

 occurs as a variety in the human subject. 



d. In the month of October 1831, a fin whale was observed floating dead 

 on the surface of the sea off" the mouth of the Firth of Forth, and was brought 

 ashore near North Berwick, 23 miles from Edinburgh. It was purchased and 

 anatomised by Dr and Mr Frederick Knox. The skeleton was carefully pre- 

 pared and publicly exhibited, and now forms the most noticeable object in the 

 Natural History Department of the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. 

 Unfortunately no systematic description of this animal was ever published ; but 

 from one or other of the publications mentioned below * I have gathered the 

 following particulars. The animal was a male, and measured 80 feet in length. 

 The length of the head over the vertex was 21 feet ; the pectoral limb 11 feet 

 long ; the circumference behind the pectoral limbs 34 feet, and even 52 feet when 

 greatly distended with gas ; the breadth of the tail 20 feet ; the distance from the 

 anus to the fork of the tail 21 feet.t The whole baleen, with its fringed edge, 

 was of a clear shining black, and the longest plate measured 2 feet 2 inches in 

 length, by 15 inches in breadth. Nothing is said as to the colour of the skin 

 or the thickness of the blubber; but it is stated in the "Account," that "the 

 fluid oil in the abdomen, particularly, was in very considerable quantity, and 

 often gave a covering to the sea as far as the eye could reach." 



Knox named the animal the Great Northern Rorqual, or Balcena maximus 

 borealis. 



In July 1847, Dr J. E. Gray stated to the Zoological Society of London, J 



* Abstract of a paper on the " Anatomy of the Rorqual (a Whalebone Whale of the largest 

 magnitude)," by Dr Robert Knox (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., March 18, 1833). " Account of the Gigantic 

 Whale or Rorqual, the Skeleton of which is now exhibiting in the great rooms of the Royal Institution, 

 Princes Street," by Frederick John Knox, surgeon, Edinburgh, 1835. " Catalogue of Anatomical pre- 

 parations illustrative of the Whale, particularly the Great Northern Rorqual," by F. J. Knox, Edinburgh, 

 1838. Although the name of Mr Frederick Knox is attached to the catalogue, yet it would appear 

 that the best part of it was from the pen of Dr Knox (" Life of Knox," by Dr Lonsdale, p. 168). For 

 the opportunity of consulting this scarce and valuable catalogue, to which I have referred on various 

 occasions in the text, I beg to express my acknowledgments to my friend Dr John Alexander Smith. 

 The skeleton of this animal is figured in Jardine's " Naturalist's Library," vol. vi., Edinburgh, 1837. 



t The Gravesend B. musculus was only 11 feet 1 inch between the points of the tail. The 

 Pevensey Razor-back, about 13 feet ; the Langston harbour specimen 11 feet. In the Pevensey whale 

 the distance from the end of the tail to the middle of the anal aperture was 1 7 feet 9 inches. 



% Proceedings, Part xv. p. 117. 



VOL. XXVI. PART I. 3 S 



