measuring 20 feet 10
inches, a right rib, the left radius, and five vertebrae, which are
now to be seen at the Indian Museum. He writes as follows on them:
"The proportional length of the radius indicates the animal to have
been a Balaenoptera or rorqual, while the remarkable slenderness of
the lower jaw suffices to prove it a distinct species from any
hitherto-described rorqual."

The finback does not confine itself entirely, or even chiefly, as
stated by Blyth, to a diet of _Cephalapoda_, but is a fish-eater to
boot, doing great damage to shoals of such fish as cod, herrings,
&c., as many as six to eight hundred fish having been found in the
stomach of one.

They are not particularly shy, and will sometimes follow a vessel
closely for days. I read not very long ago an account in one of the
Indian newspapers of a steamer running over one of these animals,
and nearly cutting it in two; the agony of the poor brute as he
struggled in the water, vainly trying to sound, was graphically
described. A similar adventure occurred some years ago to the B.I.S.N.
Company's steamer _Euphrates_, on a voyage from Kurrachee to Bombay,
when about sixty miles from the latter place. The captain writes:
"It appears that the animal had for about half an hour amused itself
by crossing and recrossing the bow, and then at last suddenly turned
and came straight for the vessel, striking us about ten feet from
the stem. It struck with such force as to send a considerable quantity
of spray on deck. The only other instance that has occurred here
lately was in the case of the S.S. _Dalhousie_, when about twelve
miles from Kurrachee; it was in September of last year, and the Bombay
papers had a full account of it at the time." I am indebted to my
friend Mr. M. C. Turner for this and some other interesting letters
on this subject. Captain A. Stiffe, of the late Indian Navy, writes
regarding the drowning of a whale by entanglement with a submarine
cable, off the coast of Mekran: "The telegraph cable was broken, and
a dead whale hove up to the surface, with three turns of cable round
the neck of his tail, by which he was drowned. I had the three turns
in my office at Kurrachee, and there they are now I dare say. I don't
remember any more details. There are always shoals of whales about
that part, and it is supposed a 'bight' of the cable lying off the
ground got wound up like a rope round a screw." I myself was in a
sailing vessel going about five or