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The Occurrence of the Sperm Whale or Cachalot in the Shetland Seas, with Notes on the Tympano-petrous Bones of Physeter, Kogia, and other Odontoceti

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2014

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Extract

In August 1901 Mr Thomas Anderson, merchant, Hillswick, to whom and to other members of whose family I have on several occasions been indebted for specimens to illustrate the Zoology of Shetland, wrote to tell me that a dead whale had been found floating near Hillswick and had been towed into Roeness Voe. It was within three miles of land when seen by the fishermen and was claimed by the Crown. From the appearance of the animal Mr Anderson thought that it was a sperm whale, and he sent me the following description, from which it was clear that he had correctly recognised it.

Type
Proceedings
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1904

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References

page 424 note 1 See my paper in Proc. Roy, Soc. Edin., vol. vii. p. 635.

page 424 note 2 Osteology of the Cachalot or Sperm Whale,” Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vi. part vi. p. 320, 1868.Google Scholar

page 427 note 1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., Feb. 6, 1871, and Jan. 29, 1872. vol. vii.Google Scholar

page 428 note 1 Nyt Magazin f. Naturvidenskab, B. 39, H. 4. I am indebted to Prof. Guldberg for a copy of this memoir.

page 430 note 1 Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., May 21, 1901, vol. ii.Google Scholar

page 430 note 2 Mr Harmer tells me that these bones of Kogia are from the New Zealand specimen, the capture of which is recorded by Professor Benham in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., May 21, 1901.Google Scholar

page 435 note 1 I have given figures of tlie tympano-petrous bones of Ziphius and Mesoplodon in my Memoir on the Getaoea of the Challenger Expedition, Reports, Zoology, part iv., 1880Google Scholar; and in the same Memoir I have figured a tympanic bulla dredged from a depth of 2335 fathoms, which was probably that of Kogia.