of Edinburgh, Session 1871-72. 633 
of the smaller bones of the skeleton, are now in my posses¬ 
sion. 
From the examination of these bones an estimate may be formed 
of the age, size, and, I believe, also the sex of the animal. 
The state of ossification of the bones proved that the animal had 
reached its full period of growth, for the epiphysial plates were 
anchylosed to the bodies of the vertebraa, the lower jaw had attained 
a great length, the radius and ulna were anchylosed together, both 
at their upper and lower ends, and the various subdivisions of the 
sternum were welded into one massive bone. 
As some estimate may be formed of the size of the animal from 
the dimensions of its lower jaw, it may be useful to give the 
measurements of this bone, and at the same time to compare it 
with the dimensions of some other specimens. 
In the Natural History department of the Edinburgh Museum 
of Science and Art is a magnificent lower jaw, which was pre¬ 
sented many years ago by Captain William Hardie. It possesses 
twenty-five teeth on one side, but only twenty-four on the other. 
On the outer face of the right mandible there has been engraved a 
large picture'of the boats of the ship “Woodlark” of London, 
Captain William Hardie, engaged in the capture of the sperm- 
whale, in a school of sperm-whales, off the Banda Islands, April 
7th, 1843. On the other half, a figure, 43 inches long, of a sperm- 
whale has been engraved. As authentic drawings of this animal 
are by no means common, and as this figure has been executed with 
a considerable amount of artistic skill, and in all probability by one 
well acquainted with the form and proportions of this animal, I 
produce on the following page a reduced copy. In the Anatomical 
Museum of the University of Edinburgh is the mandible of a young 
male, presented two years ago by my pupil, Mr F. B. Archer of 
Barbadoes. The animal was captured in the North Atlantic Ocean, 
in the latitude of the Azores. 
Professor Flower has also carefully recorded * the dimensions of 
three specimens from Tasmania, in the Museum of the London 
College of Surgeons, one of which is stated to be “ unique on 
account of its great size,” and in measuring the Edinburgh speci¬ 
mens I have followed his plan of taking the length from the apex 
* Trans. Zool. Soc. 1868. 
