. Catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History); Seals (Animals); Whales. 370 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. the statements of such people, as they seem to delight in making'a mystery of the country from whicli they derived their specimen, pro- bably fearing that some one else may procure one for exhibition. Thus all the specimens of the "Talking Fish," or Monk Seal (Monachtis aWivcnter) of the Mediterranean and Madeira, are always said to be brought from South America. Very good figures of this animal, in various attitudes, and an amusing account
. Catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History); Seals (Animals); Whales. 370 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. the statements of such people, as they seem to delight in making'a mystery of the country from whicli they derived their specimen, pro- bably fearing that some one else may procure one for exhibition. Thus all the specimens of the "Talking Fish," or Monk Seal (Monachtis aWivcnter) of the Mediterranean and Madeira, are always said to be brought from South America. Very good figures of this animal, in various attitudes, and an amusing account of its manners, are given by the Rev. J. G. "Wood in the ' Boys' Own Magazine,' vi. 213, 1865. Balsena Mysticetus (page 81). There is a beautiful skeleton of an adult female (a full-formed foetus was taken from the womb) in the Museum of the lloyal College of Surgeons. Mr. Flower informs me that this skeleton entirely invalidates the late Professor Eschricht's observations on the distinction between the skeleton of the male and female whales ; but it is to be observed that Professor Eschricht never saw the skeleton of the adult female. The figure of the " Bonnet of the AVhale," at page 95, is unfortu- nately, as it was also in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1864, 170, placed wrong side upwards, the straight upper edge being the one affixed to the skin of the head of the whale, a portion of the skin still adhering to the bonnet. Fig. Balaena Sieboldii (page 96). Mr. Joseph Allen, of Stoke Newington, has a Japanese work, in two volumes, on whale-fishing in those waters. The first volume contains an account of the way in which whales are caught on the coast of Japan, with plates of the boats, nets, and the manner of boiling oiit the oil from the blubber and the bones, which they seem to chop up for the purpose. The second contains an account of the anatomy of the Right Whale and the Long-finned Whale, and of the apparatus used in whale-fishing,
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgrayjohn, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookyear1866
