394 
Mr Bald on the Skeleton of a Whale. 
and marshy. In the course of this operation, the workmen, in 
deepening the east ditch, forming the march with the estate of 
Powis, the property of Edward Alexander, Esq. came upon a 
substance which they conceived to be the trunk of a tree, many 
small branches of trees having occurred in the digging of this 
ditch. In the month of July last, in order to render the drain- 
age more complete, the march-ditch was still farther deepened, 
when the workmen were again obstructed by what they consider- 
ed as the tree before noticed. They began to cut it with hat- 
chets, but they had not proceeded far with the cutting, before they 
discovered that the substance was bone, and not wood. This de- 
termined them to remove the earth-cover all around. They 
soon ascertained that the bones belonged to the skeleton of some 
animal of very great magnitude. This created no common inte- 
rest, and Sir Robert Abercromby gave orders to his workmen 
to proceed carefully in searching for the bones. Each day as the 
bones were found, he caused them to be washed, and deposited 
in a place of safety in his court of offices. 
The skeleton is evidently that of a whale ; and the animal 
appears to have been about 1% feet in length. The greater part 
of the bones were found at the depth of about four feet and 
a half, but some were nearer to the surface. The head was 
^ lying across the march-ditch, the jaw-bones projecting a few 
feet over Sir Robert Abercromby’s march-line into the estate 
of Powis. The tail lay in a westerly direction from the 
head. Though the bones were a little disjoined, yet they lay, 
upon the whole, in a regular position. The bones which have 
been preserved consist of the cranium, numerous vertebrae, se- 
veral ribs, the jaw-bones, and the bones of the swimming-paws, 
with some smaller bones ; likewise some bones of the ear, parti- 
cularly the mastoid process, which is remarkably hard, and some- 
what of the shape of a large shell of the genus Cypraea, for 
which it was at first mistaken. Some of the ribs are 10 feet 
in leno-th ; and it is remarkable that one of them had been bro- 
ken and healed again, being, as usual, much thicker at the place 
of fracture. The bones are in general firm, and in a state of 
good preservation, excepting the jaw-bones. These last were 
immured chiefly in the dry bank upon the side of the ditch ; 
and upon exposure to the air, the cellular structure speedily fell 
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