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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    of the same to middle of umbilicus 4 feet 5 inches—the latter being thus 27 feet 5 inches distant from the end of the tail. One of the most striking points in external conformation in which this Whale differs not only from all known toothed Whales, but from Baleena, Megaptera, and even most of the Balcenoptevince, at least if the published figures of these animals are correct, is the great verti- cal depth of the mujch com]n-essed caudal portion of the trunk, which changes little from the dorsal fin to the commencement of the lateral expansion, where the upper and lower sharp margins suddenly begin to converge, running as a strong keel for half the length of the flukes. The long, narrow, and pointed flukes have the hinder margin nearly straight. They presented in a very marked manner a peculiarity noticed by Dr. Murie in his account of a Fin-Whale captured at Gravesend*, viz. that they do not set out, at least the anterior part of them, in the same plane from the middle line of the tail, but the right one sweeps at first upwards, and is therefore convex above, the left one sweeping as much downwards, and being therefore concave. This affects chiefly the anterior and inner third of each fluke; the posterior edges and outer ends appeared to lie in an even plane. The furrowed region of the under surface commenced at about the middle of the lower jaw, and extended exactly as far back as the um- bilicus, and on each side to the axillae. The furrows were not sym- metrical on the two sides of the body ; they frequently divided at very acute angles, and united sometimes to the same, and sometimes to adjoining furrows; their general depth was | inch, and the intervals between them from 2 to 3 inches. The penis was extruded, and about 6 feet in length, cylindrical at the base, and regularly tapering towards the extremity. Its orifice did not resemble that described and figured by Dr. Murief, but was single and terminal, with a deeply lobed margin. Immediately behind the root of the penis were two longitudinal grooves, about 10 inches long, inch deep, and 3 inches apart, slightly converging posteriorly. Each of these lodged a much compressed nipple, which reached in height to a level with the edge of the groove, and measured 1^ inch from before backwards, and rather less than \ inch from side to side. They were of a pink colour, and had a soft, finely nodulated surface. These organs thus differed totally in situation from the rudimentary nipples of the male Porpoise, which are lodged in a single deep cavity be- hind the penis, having a minute aperture on the surface in the median line of what may be called the perinseum. The male mam- mary organs of the Cetacea were first described by Pallas in the Beluga, but appear to have remained unnoticed by any other author, until Eschricht verified their presence and fully described them in many different speciesj. The chin terminated in front by a slightly elevated vertical ridge ; on each side of thiswere scattered somewhat irregularly, and extending over a space of 9 inches in length and 2| inches in breadth, twenty- five distinct deep circular pits, mostly surrounded by a dark-coloured * Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 210. t Ibid. p. 214. + L. c. p. 83.