C 2 
tion of tlie whale by no means an exact one. On my second visit 
a few days after, the whale was a perfect wreck. It was still lying 
upon its back, had been disembowelled, and of course the important 
parts were hidden, all the cuticle, which had before been perfect, 
was worn off by rough usage, some of the ribs were broken and 
protruding, and the lumbar vertebrae in some places exposed, the 
lower transverse processes often broken more or less ; the smell, 
owing to the intestines having been removed and floated out to sea 
(only to be stranded on another part of the coast), was not so 
offensive as might have been expected, and I succeeded in cutting 
my way to the baleen, which was hidden by the skin of the throat, 
the lower jaw being uppermost, the plates were very much mutilated, 
dark slate colour on the outer edge shaded off to dirty white on the 
inside. The external appearance, so far as I was able to see it, 
agreed perfectly with the description in “ Bell’s British Quad- 
rupeds,” second edition, p. 400. The Bev. C. W. Roberts, of 
Potter Heigham Vicarage, kindly wrote me an account of his visit 
to the whale, but he was not much more successful than I was. 
On both occasions I tried to ascertain the total length with dif- 
ferent results, neither of which agreed with Mr. Roberts, the bent 
and twisted position rendering it almost impossible to be exact. I 
think, however, 70 feet is very near the true length, and the tail 
measured from the points of the flukes 13 ft. 6 in. I cannot help 
expressing my regret that this fine specimen should be lost entirely 
to science. 
This species has occurred on the Norfolk coast at Lynn, in 
August, 1842; Winter-ton, January, 1857, beside several other 
earlier instances, and on the Lincolnshire side of the Wash in 
November, 1858. The smaller species Balcenoptera rostrata has also 
occurred several times, viz. : at Runton in 1829 ; Lynn, January, 
1851, and at Overstrand in November, 1860. 
Occurrence of Macropis labiata, Panz. 
By J. B. Bridgman. 
It is with great pleasure I am enabled to record the capture of a 
splendid male specimen of Macropis labiata , Panz, within a few 
miles of Norwich. It was taken by the Rev. J. L. Brown in ono 
