Observations upon a fin-whale (Physalus antiquorum, Gray) recently stranded in Pevensey Bay / by William Henry Flower.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations upon a fin-whale (Physalus antiquorum, Gray) recently stranded in Pevensey Bay / by William Henry Flower. 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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    [From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, November 28, 1865.] Observations upon a Fin-Whale (Physalus ANTiaro- RUM, Gray) recently stranded in Pevensey Bay. By William Henry Flower, F.R.S., etc.. Conservator of THE Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. On the evening of Monday, November 13th, 1865, during a strong south-easterly gale, the body of a large Whale was thrown upon the beach in Pevensey Bay, Sussex, about 10 miles to the west of Hast- ings. It was claimed by the Hon. Board of Admiralty, and sold by public auction on the 15th, for the sum of 3638, to a company of fishermen residing at Hastings and Eastbourne. I visited the spot, for the purpose of examining the animal, on the 16th, and also on the 20th and 21 st, when the body was cut up by its owners for the sake of the oil which might be obtained from it, and with a view of preserving the skeleton. The difficulties attending upon the investi- gation of the external form and internal structure of one of these colossal creatures in the circumstances under which this one presented itself have been graphically described by Eschricht*, and must be my excuse for the imperfection of the following notes. When thrown ashore, the carcase was already in an advanced * Untersuchungen iiber die nordischen Wallthierc, p. 3. [I]