multifidus spinæ) weighed fully 16 lbs. They had but slender costal
attachments; but their spinal (small delicate tendons) were innumerable.
The scaleni were very large; and the vessels held the same relation to
them as in man. The serratus magnus was comparatively small. The larger
rhomboid had no spinal attachment; the minor rhomboid seemed to be the
larger of the two. The pectorals were comparatively small. The adipose
tissue appeared to be wholly confined to the subcutaneous region. The
muscles were of a deep brown colour, full of blood, with a short, dark,
and well-flavoured fibre: when cooked, they had a strong resemblance in
flavour and taste to the flesh of the hare.
Part II. THE BALÆNA WHALES, OR WHALES WITH WHALEBONE.
In February 1834 a young whale of the family of Balæna Whales was caught
near the Queensferry, in the Firth of Forth. One much larger had been
seen some time before, but escaped. I purchased it for dissection,
although I was aware that it was impossible for me, during the hurry of
the winter session, to devote much time to it. But I had able assistants
(Mr. Henry Goodsir, Mr. Edward Forbes, and my brother), from whom I
expected a good deal of aid. Some very beautiful drawings of this whale,
made for me by Mr. Edward Forbes and by my brother, are still in my
possession.
It was easy to see, by the dorsal fin and by the numerous plaits or
folds on the abdominal surface of the throat and chest, before any
dissection, that the specimen was a young Balænopterous whale, differing
in a great many points from the true whale or _Mysticetus_: for, 1st,
the form of the head was entirely different; 2nd, it had a dorsal fin;
and, 3rd, occupying the lower surface of the throat and thorax were
numerous folds of the integuments. To this class of whales I have been
in the habit of giving the name of Rorqual, to distinguish them from the
other class of Whalebone Whales, the _Mysticetus_ both _borealis_ and
_australis_.
It appears from my notes, that at that time M. G. Cuvier considered the
species I now describe as identical with the Great Rorqual I had
described about two years previously; but I felt convinced then, as now,
that they form distinct species, and in this opinion some continental
anatomists seem to coincide.
Being persuaded that there was some inaccuracy in former drawings of the
species, I had the specimen suspended and drawn with great care by Mr.
Edward Forbes. This position explained the mechanism of the mouth,
showing its great size, even in the short Balæna Whales; its great
capacity in the _Mysticetus_ had never been doubted.
As to the species, the conclusion I arrived at was, that the specimen
belonged to that termed by Fabricius _rostrata_, and that individuals of
the species had been seen by John Hunter, Sir James Watson, and
Fabricius.
_Measurements._ ft. in.
Total length of the specimen 9 11
Circumference immediately behind the pectoral extremities 5 2
Circumference where the folds or rugæ terminated 4 8-1/4
Ditto of the tail at its origin 1 5-1/2
Length from the back fin to the setting on of the tail 2 10
Length from the snout to the ear 3 0
Length from snout to nostrils 1 4
Length of lower jaw 2 3
Length of arm; inner side 1 3
Length from the angle of the mouth to the arm 1 3
Length from snout to arm 2 9
Length of tail in depth 0 11
Length of back fin at the base 0 8
Height of back fin 0 8-1/2
From top to tip of tail 2 8-1/2
Stomach:--1st compartment, in length 1 2
2nd compartment, in length 1 4
3rd compartment, in length 0 8
4th compartment, in length 0 7
5th compartment, in length 0 3
Spleen weighed 4 ounces; its length was 0 5
Liver, 9 lbs.
Small intestines, length 20 0
Large intestines, length 2 4
Kidney, weight 2-1/4 lbs.
Brain (including 2 inches of spinal marrow), 3-1/2 lbs.
Cerebellum, pons, and 2 inches of spinal marrow, 3/4 lb.
Great hemisphere of the brain measured 3 inches in
length, in breadth, 6-1/2; at the base, 8 inches.
Tuber annulare 0 1-2/8
Olfactory nerves, in length 0 1-1/2
Ditto, breadth 0 2-1/2
Skeleton:--Length of cranium 2 11
Greatest breadth between the orbits 1 3
Length of vertebral column 7 8
When we compare the skeleton of this Rorqual with the Gigantic Rorqual I
also dissected, we find as follows:--
_R. giganteus._ _R. minor._
Cervical vertebræ 7 vertebræ 7
Dorsal 15 11
Lumbar, sacral, caudal 43 30
-- --
65 48
These differences must be specific.
At the extremity of the snout in either jaw there were 8 strong
bristles, being the only vestiges of hair found on the external surface.
The mouth was of great size; the tongue large and tolerably free, and of
a pale rose or vermilion colour. The baleen, where deepest, measured
about 4 inches; there were 370 plates on each side; but anteriorly and
posteriorly these plates were reduced to mere bristles.
The isthmus faucium allowed the closed hand to pass through it; through
this isthmus I do not believe that any water ever passes into the
pharynx, unless it be accidentally, as in man. The "spout" of the
Whalebone Whale is composed, no doubt, of the pulmonary vapour, and not
of any water received into the pharynx from the mouth.
The stomach seemed composed of five compartments externally, but
presented only four when laid open, the fifth being manifestly the
duodenum. In the intestines no remains of food were found, but abundance
of intestinal worms, and a substance strongly resembling the human
meconium. There was an ilio-cæcal valve as distinct as in man. In the
rectum the folds of the mucous membrane were transverse.
_Organs of Respiration_.--The external nostrils were double; and the
cavities of the nostrils provided with the remarkable cartilages and
muscular apparatus I discovered and described in the anatomy of the
Great Rorqual. In this specimen they were about 4 inches in length, but
of as many feet in the large Rorqual. The mode of breathing in the
Rorquals does not differ much from that in man, with the exception of
the apparatus of the protruding cartilages, which in man are
rudimentary.
The _Olfactory Nerves_ were quite as large as in other mammals; and in
this respect the Balæna Whales are quite unlike the Dolphins[E].
The trachea communicated, near its upper part, with a sac or pouch; the
lungs were each composed of a single lobe. The rings of the trachea were
mostly deficient anteriorly. In the heart the foetal arrangements had
wholly disappeared. The dura mater seemed divisible into three layers,
the external being vascular. A remarkable vascular substance connected
with this layer covers the back part of the brain and cerebellum,
extending into the spinal canal, and even into the chest. At the base of
the brain the vascular plexus was about 2 inches in thickness. It is, as
is well known, a sort of erectile tissue, of whose functions we are
wholly ignorant. It is not confined to this course, but extends to the
neck, and, passing through the foramina intervertebralia, fills the
intercostal spaces exterior to the pleura.
There was evidently a canal in the centre of the spinal marrow. Wherever
the nerves of the lungs and stomach were traced, they terminated in
loops. We did not observe in the Great Rorqual any tracheal pouch like
that in the smaller; but it may have escaped notice: if absent in the
Great Rorqual, it would be another proof of the distinctness of the
species.
The doubts raised by M. St. Hilaire, as to the Whale being a mammal in
the true sense of the term, were set aside long ago by an appeal to
facts. The young of the Whale tribe suckle like the young of all
mammals; nevertheless I showed, in 1834, that the lactiferous glands in
the _Balænopteræ_ differ in structure from the same organs in most
mammals.
I do not find in my notes anything to add to the description of the
Great Rorqual already published in the 'Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh' for 1827, to which I beg leave to refer the
reader.
A single remark must be added regarding the nature of the vascular
plexus which, in the Cetacea, surrounds the spinal marrow, and extends
into the chest. On selecting the artery which seemed to form the plexus,
which was, if I rightly recollect, in this instance an intercostal
artery, and dissecting it under water, I found, to my surprise, that the
artery, so long as I followed it, never gave off any branches, but
continued of the same calibre throughout, making innumerable
flexuosities or turnings. Thus, on a plexiform mass of this kind being
cut across, the first impression is, that a great number of arterial
branches or arteries have been divided, whilst in fact the entire plexus
seems to be formed of one artery.
As was to be expected of animals so much withdrawn from human
observation, there is but little to say on the natural history of the
Cetacea properly so called. Their food, no doubt, is various, and seems
to have little or no relation to the character of their dentition. The
enormous Cachalot, with its vast teeth implanted only in one jaw, is
generally understood to prey chiefly on the Cuttlefish. The food of the
true Whale, or _Mysticetus_, is well known to be the Clio and other
smaller Mollusca, with which certain regions of the ocean abound; the
same, or similar, is probably the food of the more active and restless
Rorquals, found in both hemispheres. The Dolphins, or Toothed Whales,
generally prey, no doubt, on fishes of various kinds; yet, even as
regards these, it has been proved by my esteemed friend, the late Mr.
Henry Goodsir, that some of the largest, following in the wake of the
herring shoals, prey not on these, but on the various microscopic food
(the Entomostraca and other marine animals) which I was the first to
prove to be the natural food of many excellent gregarious freshwater
fish, as the Vendace, Early Loch Leven Trout, the Brown Trout of the
Highland and Scottish lakes generally, and of the Herring itself[F]. It
is scarcely necessary to add, that the complex apparatus connected with
the exterior nostrils of the Dolphins is wholly wanting in the Balæna
Whales,--a fact of which M. Cuvier was not aware when he wrote his
celebrated Treatise on Comparative Anatomy.
_Appendix_.--Since writing the above, I have received an answer to a
letter I addressed to my friend, John Goodsir, Esq., Professor of
Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh. The request contained in my
letter to Mr. Goodsir was, to examine for me the skeleton of a foetal
_Mysticetus_ now in the University Museum. The foetus from which this
skeleton was prepared was removed from the uterus of the mother, killed
in the North Seas by the seamen of a whaling ship, by one of my former
students, Mr. R. Auld, who presented the specimen to me. The point at
issue was the composition of the cervical vertebræ in the true or
Greenland Whale, the _Balæna Mysticetus_. M. Van Beneden, to whose
memoir I have referred in the commencement of this, says, on the
authority of Eschricht, that at no age whatever do we find in true
Whales (meaning, I presume, the _Mysticetus borealis_ and _australis_)
any distinct vertebræ in the cervical region, as in other mammals. A
fusion of all into one bone or cartilage seems to take place even in the
youngest foetus. Now, I had enjoyed the rare opportunity of dissecting
the foetus of the _Mysticetus_, and I knew that the skeleton, prepared
with the greatest care, was still preserved in the Museum of the
University of Edinburgh. I wrote to Mr. Goodsir to re-examine this point
for me, for I did not find in my notes any confirmation of the
observations of Eschricht. Mr. Goodsir's reply to my note is as
follows:--
"University, Edinburgh,
Sept. 30, 1857.
"MY DEAR SIR,
"In the skeleton of the foetal _Mysticetus_ now in the University
Museum, the bodies of the axis and atlas have shrivelled up together,
having evidently consisted of cartilage only; but the bodies of the five
posterior cervical vertebræ are beautifully distinct, having well-formed
osseous centres, which give them more of the configuration of the
succeeding vertebral bodies than they present in their compressed form
in the adult.
"The neural arches in the cervical region of this skeleton are five in
number; the two anterior, which are distinctly those of the atlas and
axis, have an osseous nodule on each side, where the transverse
processes pass off. The third arch belongs to the third vertebra, the
fourth and fifth to the sixth and seventh. These three arches are
cartilaginous, and present no osseous centres. It is impossible to
determine from the preparation whether the arches of the fourth and
fifth vertebræ had been cut away in dissecting the parts, or whether
they have shrivelled up in drying; but as the skeleton was very
carefully prepared, and as these two arches are deficient (at least
laterally) in the adult _Mysticetus_, I presume that the cartilaginous
matrices were at least extremely delicate in the foetus.
"I believe I have stated all the facts, afforded by this skeleton, which
bear upon your questions. They appear to me to afford no support to the
views to which they refer.
"Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) "JOHN GOODSIR."
The conclusion I arrived at is this,--that the actual number of cervical
vertebræ in the _Mysticetus_ is, as in most other mammals, seven, and
that, notwithstanding their earlier fusion, they are originally quite
distinct.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] It is stated that some of the last of these are of wood. The
skeleton in Edinburgh is perfect.
[D] "The substance of the brain is more visibly fibrous than I ever saw
it in any other animal, the fibres passing from the ventricles as from a
centre to the circumference, which fibrous texture is also continued
through the cortical substance."--HUNTER, "On Whales," 'Animal Economy,'
Palmer's edit. p. 373.
[E] In his paper "On the Structure of Whales" (Phil. Trans. 1787),
Hunter remarks that the organ of smell "is peculiar to the large and
small Whalebone Whales." He further remarks, that, "in those that have
olfactory nerves, the lateral ventricles are not continued into them as
in many quadrupeds;" and he notices "the want of the olfactory nerves in
the genus of the Porpoise."--'Anim. Economy,' Palmer's edit. pp. 372,
373, 376.
[F] See Memoirs in the 'Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'
for 1832.
Extract of a Letter from Dr. BAIKIE to Sir JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D., C.B.,
F.R. & L.S., dated 29th October, 1857, Rabba, on the Qworra.
[Read January 21st, 1858.]
"In natural history my collection is advancing, especially in skins and
skeletons of birds. I am collecting skulls of all the domesticated
animals, and skeletons of the sheep and goats. I have got a few fish,
including a prettily-marked _Diodon_ or _Tetraodon_, probably new, and a
_Myletes_ which I did not meet with formerly. The _Siluridæ_ are the
most abundant fishes; and one species closely resembles the
_Hypophthalmus_, figured by Rüppell in his 'Fishes of the Nile and Red
Sea.' I have not met with another Polypterus. I shall get a
_Lepidosiren_ in the river, and have heard of an electrical fish, I
believe a _Malopteruris_, such as I formerly found. I enclose two scales
of a fish which is said to grow to the length of 5 feet, but of which I
have specimens half that size only,--also a sketch of a curious fish
2-1/2 feet, which I put into spirits; it has neither ventral nor anal
fins, a very peculiar caudal, and a slender head, while the dorsal
extends along the whole back; eyes very small; teeth numerous and hard,
but not sharp." He adds, in a postscript, that he had got the
_Lepidosiren_. He had collected 700 species of plants, and numerous
fine fruits, which he says "will rejoice Sir William Hooker's heart."
Dr. Baikie's postscript, however, mentions that his vessel had been
wrecked about twelve miles above Lagos, and that she sunk in a few
minutes after she struck. He does not say what was the fate of his
collections, but states that all the party had fever from fatigue and
sleeping in swamps after the wreck.--J. R.
Catalogue of the Dipterous Insects collected in the Aru Islands by Mr.
A. R. WALLACE, with Descriptions of New Species. By FRANCIS WALKER.
ARU ISLAND.
Fam. MYCETOPHILIDÆ, _Haliday_.
Gen. SCIARA, _Meigen_.
Div. A. _a., Meig_. vi. 305.
1. SCIARA SELECTA, n. s. _Mas_. Nigra, cinereo-tomentosa, antennis sat
validis, pedibus piceis, alis cinereis, venis costalibus crassis.
_Male_. Black, with cinereous tomentum; antennæ rather stout; legs
piceous; wings greyish; veins black; radial and cubital veins thick;
radial vein extending to the fork of the subapical. Length of the body
1-3/4 line; of the wings 4 lines.
Fam. BIBIONIDÆ, _Haliday_.
Gen. PLECIA, _Hoffmansegg_.
2. Plecia dorsalis, _Walk_. See Vol. I. p. 5.
Fam. CULICIDÆ, _Haliday_.
3. CULEX SCUTELLARIS, n. s. _Mas_. Nigro-fuscus, capite thoraceque
argenteo trivittatis, scutello rufescente; abdominis segmentis argenteo
fasciatis, genubus et tarsorum posticorum fasciis niveis; alis
subcinereis, venis nigris ciliatis.
_Male_. Blackish brown. Head and thorax with three silvery stripes, the
middle one very distinct; scutellum reddish; pectus with silvery gloss;
abdomen with silvery bands, which are narrow above, broad beneath;
femora pale towards the base; knees snow-white; hind tarsi with 5 broad
snow-white bands; middle tarsi with the first and second joints white at
the base; wings slightly greyish; veins black, fringed. Length of the
body 3 lines; of the wings 5 lines.
Fam. TIPULIDÆ.
Gen. MEGISTOCERA, _Wied_.
4. Megistocera tuscana, _Wied. Auss. Zweist._ 1. 55. 1. Inhabits also
Java.
Gen. GYNOPLISTIA, _Westw_.
5. GYNOPLISTIA JURGIOSA, n. s. _Mas. et Foem._ Nigra, capite rufescente,
alis cinereis, plagis costalibus nigro-fuscis.--_Mas_. Abdomine
ochraceo, apice nigro, femoribus basi testaceis.--_Foem._ Abdomine atro
fasciis albidis apice luteo.
_Male and Female._ Black. Head reddish; antennæ testaceous at the base;
thorax testaceous in front; wings greyish, blackish-brown along the
costa, and with three subcostal blackish-brown patches, the third
continued along the veins towards the hind border. _Male_. Abdomen
ochraceous, black at the tip; femora testaceous at the base; halteres
testaceous. _Female._ Abdomen deep black, with whitish bands on the
sutures; tip luteous. Length of the body 5-6 lines; of the wings 9-10
lines.
Fam. STRATIOMIDÆ, _Haliday_.
Gen. PTILOCERA, _Wied_.
6. Ptilocera quadridentata. See Vol. 1. p. _7_.
7. MASSICYTA INFLATA, n. s. _Foem._ Nigra, capite viridi maculis nigris,
antennis basi ferrugineis, pectoris callis duobus scutelloque testaceis,
abdomine basi sordide albido lineis tribus nigris, fasciis duabus
cano-tomentosis, segmentis tertio quartoque apice ferrugineis, tibiis
basi tarsisque albidis, alis subcinereis fusco marginatis, stigmate
nigricante, halteribus testaceis.
_Female._ Black. Head dull green, with several black spots; mouth
testaceous; antennæ dark ferruginous towards the base; two pectoral
calli and the scutellum testaceous; abdomen at the base dingy-whitish
and semihyaline, and with three black lines; third and fourth segments
with hoary bands, their hind borders ferruginous; tibiæ towards the
base, and tarsi, whitish; hind tibiæ with the two colours most
distinctly marked; wings grey, with broad brownish borders; stigma
blackish; veins black; halteres testaceous. Length of the body 6 lines;
of the wings 11 lines.
8. MASSICYTA CERIOÏDES, n. s. _Foem._ Nigra, capite testaceo maculis
nigris, antennis basi ferrugineis, pectoris callis duobus, thoracis
vittis duabus interruptis, scutello abdominisque fasciis tribus
viridibus, segmento abdominali secundo maculis duabus testaceis, tarsis
albis, alis nigricanti-fuscis, halteribus viridibus.
_Female._ Black. Head testaceous, with some black spots on the vertex.
Antennæ dark ferruginous towards the base. An interrupted stripe on each
side of the thorax, two pectoral calli, the scutellum, and the hind
borders of the second, third, and fourth abdominal segments green.
Abdomen testaceous at the base beneath; first band interrupted, having
before it two testaceous spots. Knees lurid; tarsi white. Wings blackish
brown; stigma and veins black; halteres apple-green. Length of the body
5-6 lines; of the wings 10-12 lines.
Gen. SALDUBA, n. g.
_Male. Corpus_ angustum, sublineare. _Caput_ transversum; vertex
angustus. _Oculi_ magni. _Antennæ_ capite transverso valde longiores;
articuli primo ad septimum breves; flagellum longum, lanceolatum,
subarcuatum. _Thorax_ longus, subcompressus; scutellum inerme. _Abdomen_
planum, thorace paullo longius. _Pedes_ graciles; postici longi. _Alæ_
angustæ.
_Male._ Body narrow, nearly linear. Head slightly transverse, nearly as
broad as the thorax; vertex narrow. Eyes large. Antennæ shorter than the
thorax; joints from the first to the seventh short; flagellum long,
lanceolate, slightly curved. Thorax long, slightly increasing in breadth
from the head to the base of the wings. Abdomen nearly flat and linear,
a little longer than the thorax. Legs slender; hind pair long. Wings
narrow; veins complete, distinctly marked; first cubital areolet rather
short, divided from the second by the oblique first cubital rim; discal
areolet large, hexagonal; subanal and anal veins united at some distance
from the border.
9. SALDUBA DIPHYSOIDES, n. s., _Mas._ Nigra, ore flavo, thorace vittis
quatuor subauratis, abdominis apice cinereo, pedibus albidis, femoribus
posticis apices versus tibiisque posticis nigris, alis cinereis, venis
stigmateque nigris, halteribus testaceis.
_Male._ Black. Mouth yellow; thorax with four stripes of slightly gilded
tomentum; tip of the abdomen with cinereous tomentum; legs whitish, hind
femora towards the tips and hind tibiæ black; wings greyish, veins and
stigma black; halteres testaceous. Length of the body 4-1/2 lines; of
the wings 8 lines.
Gen. STRATIOMYS.
10. STRATIOMYS CONFERTISSIMA, n. s. _Foem._ Nigra, subtus ferruginea,
capite fulvo, antennis basi fulvis, thorace vittis quatuor subauratis,
scutelli margine fulvo, ventre piceo basi testaceo, pedibus fulvis nigro
fasciatis; alis subcinereis, venis stigmateque nigris, halteribus
testaceis.
_Female._ Black, ferruginous beneath. Head, antennæ at the base, border
of the scutellum, and legs tawny; antennæ a little shorter than the
breadth of the head; thorax with four slightly gilded stripes; abdomen
beneath piceous, testaceous at the base; femora and tibiæ with broad
black bands; wings greyish, stigma and veins black; halteres testaceous.
Length of the body 4 lines; of the wings 7-1/2 lines.
11. STRATIOMYS NEXURA, n. s. _Mas et Foem._ Nigra, antennis basi fulvis,
capite transverso brevioribus, abdominis lateribus, ventre, tibiis,
tarsis halteribusque fulvis, alis limpidis, venis testaceis. _Mas._
Thorace atro piloso. _Foem._ Thorace nigro-æneo angustiore.
_Male and female._ Black. Head rather prominent; antennæ tawny towards
the base, shorter than the breadth of the head; spines of the scutellum,
abdomen beneath, tibiæ, tarsi, and halteres tawny; wings limpid, veins
testaceous. _Male._ Thorax deep black, pilose; abdomen tawny along each
side. _Female._ Head shining; thorax æneous black, narrower than that of
the male; abdomen with the tawny stripes much narrower than those of the
male. Length of the body 3-1/2 lines; of the wings 6-1/2 lines.
Gen. CLITELLARIA, _Meigen._
12. Clitellaria bivittata, _Fabr._ See Vol. I. p. 7.
Gen. GABAZA, n. g.
_Foem. Corpus_ breve, latum. _Caput_ transversum, thorace paullo
angustius; facies valde obliqua. _Antennæ_ capite transverso breviores;
articuli breves, transversi; arista longa, gracilis, filiformis.
_Scutellum_ prominens, spinis duabus minutis. _Abdomen_ transversum,
thorace multo latius. _Pedes_ graciles, breviusculi. _Alæ_ sat angustæ;
venæ tenues.