1902 - 3 .] Sir William Turner on the Sperm Whale. 
425 
was drawn between the backs of the two condyls, and from its 
mid-point a straight line was drawn to the tip of the jaw. It 
should be stated that the jaw had probably been two inches 
longer than the measurement obtained, as the most anterior tooth 
socket on each side had been broken across. 
When these measurements are compared with those given by 
Sir William Flower in his account of the mandibles of sperm 
whales in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 
it will be seen that the Edinburgh specimens compare favourably 
with the largest mandible from Tasmania in that Museum, and 
show that they were from animals which had reached adult life 
and were of great magnitude. 
Sixty-four teeth were sent to me. Of these, forty- two were 
undoubtedly mandibular teeth, from their conical shape, the size 
and depth of the pulp cavity, and the polished, partially worn and 
somewhat flattened surface of the summit of the crown. The 
longest of these teeth was 193 mm. (7 '6 in.), and the one with the 
greatest circumference was 200 mm. (almost 8 in. in girth). The 
shortest tooth which showed evidence of being worn was 
109 mm. (4’3 in.) in length and only 80 mm. (3*3 in.) in 
circumference. 
Of the remaining twenty-two teeth it was difficult to say 
definitely whether seven were or were not mandibular, though 
probably some of them were; they varied from 104 mm. to 85 
mm., and the greatest circumference was 77 mm. Five had 
shallow pulp cavities, but in the two others the cavity was 
obliterated by dense tooth tissue, perhaps crusta petrosa. No 
specimen had the summit of the crown polished or worn, but the 
tip was roughened and somewhat jagged. Obviously they had 
never cut the gum or been subjected to friction ; if mandibular, 
they had been at the hinder end of the dentary arcade, where the 
dental groove in the jaw is shallow and the sockets for the teeth 
are comparatively faintly marked. 
The remaining fifteen teeth had in part, if not altogether, 
belonged to the upper jaw. They varied considerably in size and 
form ; eight of the smallest teeth were curiously bent, and these, Mr 
Anderson states in one of his letters, were found in the upper jaw. 
Three were attenuated in form, pointed at opposite ends, and 
PROC. ROY. SOC. EDIN. — YOL. XXI Y. 28 
