History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

SO MAMMALIA. CETACEA. Bal.enopteiia.It is probable that other species of the animals of this group do live in ourseas, and occasionally give rise to the reports which have appeared, in by nomeans a questionable shape, of Mermaids. Whether these belong to the Manatusor Rytina, must be left to future observers ; but the following particulars,which have been very properly communicated, of a Zetland mermaid, capturedin Yell Sound in the summer of 1823, by an intelligent naturalist, LaurenceEdmondstone, Esq. surgeon, Unst, from the reports of the fishermen,here " merit a place:The animal was about 3 feet long, the upper part of the body resemblingthe human form, with protuberant mammae like aAvoman; the face, forehead andneck, short, and resembling those of a monkey ; small arms, which it kept foldedacross its breast ;distinct fingers, not webbed ;a few stiff long bristles were onthe top of the head, extending down to the shoulders, and which it could erector depress at pleasure, something like a crest. The lower part of the body likea fish ; the skin smooth, and of a grey colour. It offered no resistance, nor attemptedto bite, but uttered a low, plaintive sound. The crew, six in number,took it within their boat, but superstition getting the better of curiosity,and not aware of a specific remuneration for carrying it to land, they carefullydisentangled it from the lines, and a hook which had accidentally fastenedin its body, and returned direction."— it to its native element. It instantly dived, descendingin a "perpendicular I have since seen the skipper ofthe boat, and one of his crew, and learned these additional details. They hadthe animal about three hours within the boat. The body without scales orhair, silver-grey above, whitish below, like the human skin—no gills were observed—nofins on the back or belly— tail like that of a dog-fish— very thickover the breast— by the eye, the girth might be between two and three feet—the neck short, very distinct from the head and shoulders—the body ratherdepressed—the anterior extremities very like the human hand, about the lengthof a seal's paw, webbed to about an inch of the ends of the fingers—mammaeas large as those of a woman— mouth and lips very distinct, and resemblingthe human." These particulars are contained in two letters to ProfessorJameson, dated 10th and 14th August 1823, and published in the EdinburghMagazine for September 1823, p.34fi.CETACEA.I. Palate covered with baleen. Jaws destitute of teeth.A. Back furnished with a protuberance or Jin. Piked Whales.Gen. XXIX. BAL.ENOPTERA.—Pectoral skin folded longitudinally,and capable of being inflated.45. R. Muscultts. Round-lipped Whale. — Margin of theunder lipsemicircular.De Balaena tripinni quae maxillam inferiorem rotundam, et superioremulto latiorem habuit, Sibb. Phal. p. 78. tab. iii—B. musculus, Linn.Syst. 1. 106 Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata, Seoresby, Arct. i. 485.Iieg.tab. xiii. fig.2.A male of this species, according to Sibbald, 78 feet in length, came ashoreat Abercorn, in the Frith of Forth, in September 1C92. Its circumferencewas about 35 feet. The lower jaw was 13 feet 2 inches in length. The gapelarge and triangular. The upper jaw was narrower, becoming pointed towardsthe extremity; and was embraced by the longer and wider under jaw.The tongue was convoluted, 15 feet 7 inches in length, and 15 feet at the