1902 - 3 .] Sir William Turner on the Sperm W hale. 
423 
The Occurrence of the Sperm Whale or Cachalot in 
the Shetland Seas, with Notes on the Tymp a no- 
petrous Bones of Physeter, Kogia, and other 
Odontoceti. By Sir William Turner, K.C.B., F.R.S. 
(MS. received April 11, 1903. Read May 18, 1903.) 
In August 1901 Mr Thomas Anderson, merchant, Hills wick, 
to whom and to other members of whose family I have on several 
'Occasions been indebted for specimens to illustrate the Zoology of 
Shetland, wrote to tell me that a dead whale had been found 
floating near Hillswick and had been towed into Roeness Yoe. It 
was within three miles of land when seen by the fishermen and 
was claimed by the Crown. From the appearance of the animal 
Mr Anderson thought that it was a sperm whale, and he sent 
me the following description, from which it was clear that he had 
■correctly recognised it. 
The head was very large and blunt at its free end ; the blow- 
hole was near the end of the head ; the eye was low down, near 
the angle of the mouth ; there was no dorsal fin, but only a hump 
where the fin is usually situated ; the lower jaw contained large 
teeth. The animal was a male and was 61 feet long. 
Mr Anderson further stated that the salvers had bought the 
whale, and that if I wished the skeleton, or any part thereof, he 
thought that he could procure it for me. I gladly availed myself 
>of his kind offer, but owing to the size of the animal, the weight 
of the head, the difficulty of taking a steamer into the Yoe where 
the whale was lying, and the storms of the winter, it was not 
possible to secure more than the lower jaw, the teeth, and the 
tympano-petrous bones. In flensing the carcase the point of a 
massive explosive harpoon was found imbedded in the head of the 
whale, and had probably been the cause of death. The harpoon 
fiad penetrated the great chamber for the lodgment of the 
spermaceti, which, in consequence, had to a large extent drained 
away, so that the captors obtained only a small quantity of this 
valuable fat. The blubber yielded about 450 gallons of oil. 
