Notes on a cetaceous animal stranded on the north-east coast of Ireland ; On the size of the red corpuscles of the blood of the great anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata) / by George Gulliver.

  • Gulliver, George, 1804-1882.
Date:
[1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on a cetaceous animal stranded on the north-east coast of Ireland ; On the size of the red corpuscles of the blood of the great anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata) / by George Gulliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Notes on a Cetaceous Animal stranded on the North- east coast of Ireland. L By George Gulliver, F.R.S. On Saturday, May 14, 18o3, a herd of cetaceous animals appeared at Dundrum Bay, many of which got away, and others were stranded. I saw on the following days about twenty-five of them lying dead there on the sand. The largest was nearly nineteen feet, and the smallest between nine and ten feet long. They were all furnished with perfect teeth. The greater number were females ; in a group of nine large ones, lying near together, six were females and three males. I \£rs told that their death-throes were dreadful; they rose on their tails, bellowed like bulls, floundered about, and spouted bloody sand and water, as they were attacked with different destructive in- struments by the peasantry. From one of the animals, between six- teen and seventeen feet long, a perfect foetus, presently to be described, was taken, so that the breeding time of this species may be considered as now determined. One of them had the iron head of a harpoon imbedded in its back, and the wound completely healed over. In the second large compartment of the stomach were numerous fish-bones, completely denuded of all soft parts by digestion. The following measurements may be useful for future reference:— Measurements of a Male. ,, J ft. in. Length from the snout to the end of the middle of the tail 18 (i Greatest girth, excluding back fin 12 (i Length of pectoral fin 5 0 Breadth of base of pectoral fin 1 0 Breadth of pectoral fin at one foot from its point 0 4 Length of base of back fin 3 0 Height of back fin 1 2 Breadth of tail from point to point 3 10 A