46 
CETACEA. 
Although the term “ bottle-nosed ” is applied to the species in the last 
two paragraphs, the circumstances of these whales visiting the coast in 
the height of summer in large herds, and attaining the size described, 
induce me to consider them the species under consideration rather than 
either the bottle-nosed whale ( Hyperoodon ) or bottle-nosed dolphin 
(Delph. Tursio). Not more than two of the former are knowm to have ap- 
peared together, at least in the British seas ; and the latter has come 
singly and that very rarely, nor is it known to attain more than about 
half the size of some of the individuals which were captured. Some of 
the notices under Grampus also more probably apply to D. melas. 
At a meeting of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 
held on 29th October, 1851, Professor Dickie, of Queen’s College, Belfast, 
read a paper entitled “ Notes of the Capture of Whales at Dunfanaghy 
[County Donegal], in July, 1851,” of which the following is an abstract : — 
“ On the afternoon of July 20, 1851, a mrmber of small whales were seen en- 
tering the bay of Dunfanaghy. Boats were manned, and means employed to 
drive them up the estuary. They were eventually stranded in a small bay, 
about a quarter of a mile above the town, close by the bridge. The unfortunate 
animals were there assailed by a large number of the people, armed with mus- 
kets, axes, &c. They were soon slaughtered, and no fewer than sixty-nine car- 
cases remained to reward the captors for the labour of the day. A week after 
this occurrence the lecturer visited the scene of capture, but could find only a 
few fragments of jaws, the carcases, after flensing, having been cut up, and either 
buried or drifted out to sea. The largest individuals were described as having 
been twenty to twenty-five feet in length ; there were both males and females, 
the exact numbers of each could not be ascertained. The females were with 
young, and the mammae full of milk. Four of the sixty-nine were described as 
much smaller than the others, of a different colour, and having long, slender 
snouts, the jaws with numerous small teeth. Of these four he (Dr. Dickie) 
was unable to procure any relics. There could be no doubt that the larger indi- 
viduals were examples of Delphinus melas ; this opinion was confirmed on ex- 
amination of a skull. The habits of the animals might alone have led to the 
same conclusion. The four smaller individuals were, most likely, examples of 
the common dolphin, there being no other British species to which they could 
be referred ; their size, shape, colour, and form of the head, &c., appear to con- 
firm this idea.” 
The Ca’ing "Whale is the species often taken in such numbers in the 
northern Scottish Islands. Several interesting descriptions of it have 
been published and are well known, so that I shall only refer to the last 
which has become known to me. This appeared in the Edinburgh 
Philosophical Journal for July, 1844, and was entitled a ‘‘Notice of the 
employment of the flesh of small whales for feeding cattle in the Faroe 
Islands. By W. C. Trevelyan, Esq.” 
A gentleman who presented jaws and teeth of this species to the Bel- 
fast Museum, in December, 1848, stated that in the autumn of that year 
he had seen one of them, tw r enty-five feet in length, lying on the north- 
eastern shore of Scotland, where, he said, these animals are of common 
occurrence in herds of from twenty to thirty, and that they were there 
known by the name of “ Driver Whales,” from the circumstance that when 
one of them is driven on shore the rest follow. 
The Bottle-nosed Whale, Hyperoodon Butzkopf, Lacep. 
The following notes upon this species were contributed by me to the 
Annals of Natural History for February, 1840, vol. iv. page 375. 
“In Bell’s British Quadrupeds, &c., published in 1837, the latest work 
