44 
CETACEA. 
which he computes at £1500. Nothing could exceed the spirit-stirring 
character of the whole scene, enhanced as it was by the beautiful weather, and 
splendid scenery of the bay.” N. Whig, May 21, 1844. 
The latter at least must, I consider, apply to the D. melas. 
Since the preceding was written I find that a cranium of D. melas 
(twenty-three inches and a quarter in length and thirteen inches in height) 
in the Belfast Museum was presented as that of a “ grampus, one of a 
number cast ashore at Youghal,” thus showing that this name is sometimes 
applied in the south to the other species. — A herd of not less than a 
hundred grampuses mentioned to me by Mr. John Nimmo, in 1837, as 
having been once seen by him in Roundstone Bay, Connemara, were pro- 
bably the allied species, and of whose occurrence on the western coast we 
have had ocular demonstration. 
On 4th or 5th February, 1848, two individuals of some kind of Cetace- 
ous animals entered the bay of Belfast and came near the quays of that 
town, above Mr. Thompson’s embankment. They were first observed at 
“ grey dawn ” by men engaged in removing the beacon lights, some way 
below Connswater, and who rowed up towards the animals, mistaking 
them for a yawl adrift. On a near approach, however, they were not a 
little surprised by the spouting up of a large jet of water which would 
have half filled their boat, and by the disappearance of the object of their 
curiosity. After a little time the latter again came to the surface, and, 
several boats having arrived, a general pursuit ensued, in the course of which 
a number of shots were fired, but apparently without effect. One boat, in 
which were several men from the guard ships and armed with boat-hooks, 
was rowed between the two Cetaceans, who had become partially aground 
and were so close together that there was scarcely room for the boat to pass. 
The boat-hooks and oars were freely used in stabbing the poor animals and 
tearing off pieces of their blubber, which caused them to “ grunt like pigs,” as 
the narrator expressed it, but the flowing tide soon enabled them to 
retreat into deeper water, and the assailants, finding them afloat, were 
glad to escape as speedily as possible. The boat which passed’ between 
them was twenty-four feet long, and the animals were described as being 
at least thirty feet in length, both as they extended beyond the boat astern 
and stern. They had one back-fin each about two feet and a half high, 
and thought to be nearer to the head than to the tail. The head was 
considered to resemble in form that of the porpoise, according to the 
figure in Bell’s British Quadrupeds which was shown to the parties, and 
the eyes were full and large. 
Another informant stated that when he saw the animals he thought they 
were a “ lighter sinking.” 
The captain of a small tug-steamer plying in the bay gave chase for 
upwards of a mile, and was able to pass the animals by putting on “ full 
steam,” but he abandoned the pursuit, as he could not follow into shallow 
water so as to make the prize his own. The noise of the paddles and of 
blowing off the steam appeared to occasion great alarm. On the following 
morning the same captain observed the “ whales at Holywood bank, and 
renewed the chase as far as Cultra, in the direction of the open sea. The 
engineer of this steamer corroborated the captain’s statements, and they 
also concurred in saying that at first they thought there were two animals, 
but on a close approach they considered that there was only one, as the 
two bodies appeared to be joined at the inner sides, so far as visible. 
The two together were as broad as the deck of the steamer — about four- 
teen feet — and they rose simultaneously in the water, their backs suggest- 
