Notice of the Capture of Ziphius SowerbyiAuthor(s): William AndrewsSource: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Science, Vol. 1 (1870 - 1874), p. 49Published by: Royal Irish AcademyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20540921 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 12:59

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Royal Irish Academy is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of theRoyal Irish Academy. Science.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.37 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 12:59:53 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Andrews?On the Ziphius Sowerbyi. 49

XII.?Notice of the Capture of Ziphius Sowerbyi.

By William Andrews, Esq.

[Read June 27, 1870.]

On the 8th of April, 1867, I had the honour of submitting to the

Academy a notice of the capture in 1864 of the very rare Cetacean,

"Ziphius Sowerbyi*'?the first ever recorded as occurring on the

Irish coast : one only having been previously obtained on the coasts

of the British Isles. I mentioned that the first specimen whose cap ture was recorded was taken in Elginshire, in the year 1800, and

was then noticed as new to science, having been named by Sowerby, to whom the head and drawings of the animal were sent, as Phy seter bidens, from the characteristic feature of possessing only two

teeth, one on each side of the lower jaw. This remarkable animal, to which Cuvier gave the generic name

Ziphius, considering it to be a relic of the past creation, had hitherto been only found in the fossil state. It was not until de Blainville saw, in the Museum at Oxford, the head and jaws of that taken on the coast of Elginshire, that it was detected to be also a recent genus.

I have now the pleasure of recording the capture of another speci men, in the same bay, Brandon, coast of Kerry, and nearly opposite to the shore where the previous specimen was taken in 1864. It

was stranded near Corrignakilla Rock (Rock of the Church), in Brandon

Bay, on the 31st of May last, but unfortunately was much mutilated

by the fishermen, who considered it to be a porpoise, before I received

intimation of the circumstance. Through the kind attention of my friend, Dr. Busteed, of Castlegregory, the upper and lower jaws, with the teeth perfect, back portions of the head?the vertebrae, sternum, scapulae, and pectoral fins hava been secured, and portions of the dorsal fin correctly traced.

The capture of so rare a Cetacean, a second time in the same bay, is most remarkable, and being both males, it is not improbable that the females may be on the same coast. I have, therefore, given di

rections that early intelligence should be sent to me, in the event of another being stranded.

This second occurrence, on the coast of Ireland, is a most remark

able feature in zoological discovery ; yet I feel disposed to think that others may have been similarly cast ashore, and have been lost to

science, from the want of knowledge of those who have met such castaways.

The animal was supposed to be seventeen feet in length.

R. I. A. PROC.?VOL. I., SER. II., SCIENOB. H

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.37 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 12:59:53 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions