4^6 ON THE ORKNEY ANIMAL. 



The length of Mr Home's squalus was thirty 

 feet six inches. The length of the animal of 

 Stronsa, by actual measurement, was fifty-five 

 feet, or, exclusive of the head, fifty-four ; and yet 

 a part of the tail was supposed to be wanting. 



The circumference of the animal of Stronsa was, 

 by actual measurement, about ten feet, meant, I sup- 

 pose, at the thickest part. If the animal had been 

 cylindrical at that part, the diameter from the dor- 

 sal to the sternal aspect must have been about three 

 feet four inches. The diameter of the squalus, at 

 the thickest part, measuring from the dorsal to 

 the sternal aspect, is nearly six feet ; its circum- 

 ference, had it been cylindrical^ nearly eighteen 

 feet. 



The animal of Stronsa had a mane, extending 

 from the shoulder to near the caudal extremity, 

 (/. e. about thirty-nine feet,) after deducting the 

 length of the head and neck, which, when toge- 

 ther, were sixteen feet. I have still a specimen 

 of that mane, which I got from Mr Urquhart \ 

 and all the specimens which were brought here, 

 confirm the accounts that were sent of it from the 

 Orkneys. The bristles of that mane are not like 

 the radii of a fin, nor, although they were, has the 

 Squalus a fin extending from the shoulder to the 

 tail. 



A drawing, which was sent to me by our very 

 active and obliging Secretary, Mr Neill; was 

 executed, I am told, from the original, by Mr 



