638 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
adult period of life is evident from the completed ossification and 
the dimensions of its bones. There can be, I think, little doubt 
but that it was of the male sex. For although little has been 
done in the descriptions of the sperm-whale to discriminate the 
sexual characters of the skeleton, yet those who have had opportuni- 
ties of observing the habits of this cetacean, agree in ascribing to 
the male a much greater magnitude than is acquired by the 
female. That excellent naturalist, Mr F. D. Bennett, for example,* 
states that the adult female does not exceed the length of thirty, 
or at most thirty-five feet. 
We may now pass from the most recent specimen to the 
consideration of, I believe, the most ancient relic of the sperm- 
whale which has yet been found in the British Islands. 
In August 1871, Mr George Petrie of Kirkwall presented to 
the Boyal Scottish Society of Antiquaries a tooth recently obtained 
from a “ brough ” near the Howe of Hoxa, in the Isle of Sh. Bonald- 
say, on a promontory opposite the Bay of Scapa. This tooth had 
obviously been buried in the earth for a lengthened period, and in 
all probability was co-eval with the early occupation of the 
“ brough,” and may have belonged to one of its early Norse, or 
even still more ancient inhabitants. This tooth has been carefully 
examined by Professor Duns, Dr John Alexander Smith, and 
myself, and we all agree in regarding it as the tooth of a sperm- 
whale. A part of the alveolar end of the tooth, more especially on 
one side, has been broken away, so that the conical-shaped pulp- 
cavity is fully exposed. The free end of the crown is smooth and 
rounded, such as one sees in specimens of well-worn teeth of this 
animal. The length of the tooth is 5f inches, but, owing to a 
part being broken off, this does not give its full length ; the greatest 
girth is 6f inches. 
Mr Petrie has most courteously sent me an account of the locality 
in which he discovered the tooth. He says : — u I was glad to find 
that the tooth was of some interest. I was led to its discovery by 
a request of my friend, Mr James Fergusson, the author of the 
‘ Handbook of Architecture,’ to make some excavations in the 
vicinity of the Howe of Hoxa, with the view of discovering, if 
Whaling Voyage, vol. ii. p. 155. 
