| OCR Text |
Show 730 CAPT. D. GRAY ON THE BOrTLENOSE WHALE. [Dec. 19, hundredweight of spermaceti to each ton of oil, being exactly the same proportion that the Greenland Whale yields of whalebone to the ton of oil. In the female, in front of the bones of the head there is a cavity containing a small quantity of oil which is quite colourless and twice the density of that rendered from the blubber. In the males, instead of oil there is a solid lump of fat similar in shape to, and about twice the size of, a large water-melon. The following is an analysis of their oil, as compared with sperm-oil, prepared by Mr. Alfred H. Allen of Sheffield, Public Analyst for the West Riding of Yorkshire. Bottlenose- oil. Sperm- oil. Specific gravity at 155° C -8763 -8778 Flashing point, ° C 264 260 Viscosity (seconds) 141 ]37 Unsaponifiable matter (spermyl alcohol) 39'76 4050 Sp. gravity of the unsaponifiable matter "8363 -8307 Rise of temp, with sulphuric acid, ° C. 41 45 /Tale brown, chan- Dark brown, be-ging on stirring coming some- Colour-reaction with sulphuric acid •{ to light violet, what darker with and again to tinge of violet on 1^ brown. stirring. These results show that the closest similarity exists between genuine sperm-oil and the oil from the Bottlenose Whale. Their ordinary food consists of a bluish-white cuttle-fish, six inches long by three inches in circumference, and pointed towards the tail. The stomachs of the Whales that were examined contained nothing but their remains; and we never took one alongside without seeing some of them floating out of their mouths. They evidently have a great depth to go to find them, judging from the length of time that they remain away, and from the long heavy blasts they make on corning to the surface again. They are much infested with lice about the fins and in patches over their bodies. I send with this a piece of skin cut from the front of the head of a young female, which will serve to show the manner in which they adhere to the skin1. During the present season, in May and June, two hundred and three were killed; of these ninety-six were full grown males, fifty-six cows, and fifty-one younger males. From a cow a young male was cut out, measuring ten feet long by five feet six inches in circumference. The length of the mother was twenty-nine feet. The heads of two males were measured round the eyes : one was 1 [These agree exactly with Cyamus thompsoni, Gosse, Ann. & Mae Nat Hist. 2nd ser. vol. xvi. p. 30, pl. iii. fig. 11 (1855), which was found upon the skin ot a Hyperoodon captured in Portland Roads on the 2nd of October 1854 as recorded by Mr. W . Thompson (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xiv. 2nd ser p. 347, 1854). This is separated generically from the other Cyami by Liitken under the name of Platycyamus (Christiania Videns. Sellsk. Forhandl xiii p. 279, 1871).-W. H. F.] Ml1* |
