Some notes on the Cetacea of the Irish Atlantic coast / by R.J. Anderson.

  • Anderson, Richard John, 1848-1914.
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some notes on the Cetacea of the Irish Atlantic coast / by R.J. Anderson. 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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    reach the frontals. If at an early period the osteoblasts transferred their action to the beak, the shrinking teeth could supply the lime salts. The flattening out of the premaxi Use and the manufacture of the rostral cylinder, follow naturally from the altered conditions. The appearance of the vomer in the palate and in the floor of the rostral cylinder is signi- ficant in pointing to a still earlier reptilian connection. The following is the letter announcing the arrival of the Mesoplodon. Dear Sir. A large fish covered with a kind of hairy fur, is reported to be washed ashore at South Aran, its dimensions are length 6‘,50, girth 3m,75, will you please inform me of its name and oblige ». Two Species of M. bidens ('Ziphius Sowerbyi) were found on the west Coast of Ireland many years ago. An account of the skull of Mesoplodon Layardi is given by Sir William Turner1 who refers to the observations of Sir William Flower, Dr Hector, Prof. Moseley and Dr. von Haast. The measurements of the skull in some specimens are given and compared with those of a Ziphius of New Zealand and one from Shetland and the skull in Mesoplodon Sower- byi. The length of the adult Mesoplodon Layardi examined was lm.028, that of the skull of the young specimen 0m,635. The descriptions had reference to one complete skull and a part of a skeleton, a skull with out the lower jaw and a rostrum. The skull figured is so like the skulls in the Galway Museum, that one can have little difficulty in recognising the relationship. The descriptive particulars given concerning the adult skull correspond in their main feature with those which have been noted with regard to Mesoplodon Hectori Gray. Sir William Turner mentions that in the absence of a knowledge of the sex of the individual, it is im- possible to draw conclusions with reference to the specific value of the teeth, and has pointed out the generic value of the tympanic bone in enabling one to distinguish between Ziphius and Mesoplodon. Mr. Moseleys notes are given. One animal had «large tusks» in the lower jaw. The density of the bone in the second specimen is referred to, the first specimen measured 5m — 5m,625 and the second seems to have been 5‘,62. Both specimens were from the cape of Good Hope, a third much smaller 42cm,7 came from the East Falkland Islands. A previ- ously found skull had been described by Dr. Gray and Prof. Owen. Skeletons are mentioned from New Zealand. All the Mesoplodon Layardi species are southern. The mesorostral bone was absent in the third specimen of the first lot because the specimen was immature the lengths given for the mature and young specimens of Mesoplodon Layardi correspond fat least the for- 1 W. Turner. Report on the Rones of Cetacea collected during the voyage of UMS Chalenger. London, I860.