An Account of the Dissection of a Porpess, Promised Numb. 74; Made, and Communicated in a Letter of Sept. 12 1671, by the Learned Mr. John Ray, Having therein Observ'd Some Things Omitted by Rondeletius

An Account of the Dissection of a Porpoise, promised Numb. 74; made, and communicated in a Letter of Sept. 12, 1671, by the Learned Mr. John Ray, having therein observ'd some things omitted by Rondeletius. SIR, About the later end of April 1669, being at Westchester with my Lord Bishop of that Diocese, in the company of Fr. Willughby Esq.; I had the good fortune to meet with a young Porpoise of a convenient size for Dissection, brought thither by some Fishermen who caught him upon the Sands, where the Tide had left him; in the Anatomy whereof I observed some things omitted by Rondeletius in his Description of the Dolphin. The length of this was by measure 3 feet and 7 inches. A string of 2 feet and 2 inches girded him in the thickest place. The shape of his body was not much unlike that of a Tunny fish; only his snout longer and sharper. His skin was thin, smooth, and without scales. In an old and well grown fish its like the skin may be thick and tough, as Rondeletius represents it. His Fins are cartilaginous, and flexible, not sharp or prickly, as the Ancients report them. On his back he hath only one, which was distant from the tip of his snout 1 foot and 9 inches; and the basis of it in length 5½ inches; so that measuring from the tip of his snout to the end of the tail, it was situate somewhat below the middle of the fishes length. On the Belly it had only one pair of fins, 9½ inches distant from the tip of the lower mandible, much about the place, where the foremost pair of fins in other fishes usually grow. The Tail is forked, of the figure of a Crescent; the breadth thereof from angle to angle 11 inches. The situs or position of it contrary to that of all other fishes, except those of this kind. For whereas the plain of the tail of other fishes, when they swim, stands erected perpendicularly to the plain of the Horizon, in this fish (and I suppose in all others of the Cetaceous kind) it lies parallel thereto. The reason whereof I conceive to be partly to supply the use of the hindmost pair of of fins in other fishes, which serve to balance the body, and keep it up in the water, answering in proportion to the hinder legs of a Quadruped; hence we see, that those fishes, which have long bodies and but one pair of fins, as Eels and the like, cannot keep themselves up in the water, but lie always grovelling on the bottom: partly, to facilitate the fishes ascent to the top of the water (to which he can immediately raise himself by a light jerk of his tail thus placed) for the use of respiration, which is necessary for him, as for Quadrupeds. For, doubtless if violently detained under water, he would in a short time be suffocated or drowned. Immediately under the skin lay the fat, which, as I remember, our Seamen call the Blubber: It was firm, full of fibres, and in this small fish, of an inch thickness, encompassing and enclosing the whole body, back, belly and sides. The use whereof I conceive to be, 1. to keep the cold water at a distance from the blood, which is, I believe, actually and to the touch hot, in a degree not much inferior to that of Quadrupeds, and therefore by immediate contact of the water would be apt to be chilled. 2. To keep in the hot streams of the blood from evaporating; by that means also preserving and maintaining its natural heat: as we see water, and any other liquor in a close vessel will retain its heat much longer than in an open; and nothing is more proper to detain the finest and subtlest evaporation and spirits, than oil or fat. 3. Perhaps also, to lighten or counterpoise the body of the fish, which would otherwise be too heavy to move and swim in the water. Under the Blubber lay the Muscular flesh like to that of Quadrupeds, but of a darker colour. The Body was divided into three Regions or Ventres like a Quadrupeds, viz. Head, Breast, and Belly; the vessels and viscera in each venter, for the main, the same as in Quadrupeds: 1. The Abdomen was compassed about with a strong Peritoneum. The Guts joined to the Mesentery, and of a very great length, by measure 48 foot, without any difference or distinction of great and small; neither was there any Blind-gut, or Appendix, that I could find. The Stomach was of a strange make, being divided into two large bags, beside other other smaller ones. I found nothing in it, but a good number of those little long fishes, which our Fisher-men dig out of the Sands at low water, and therefore call in some places Sand-Eels; by some they are called Launces, and by Gesner, Ammolyte. The Liver was of a moderate size, situate in the right side, and divided into two lobes, having no cystis sella or receptacle of Gall annexed. The Pancreas large, sticking close to the third bag of the Stomach, into which also its ductus enters, and emptys itself. The Spleen small and roundish. The Kidneys large, sticking close to the back, and lying contiguous one to the other, made up of many little kernels, like to, but much lesser than, those of an Ox; of a flat figure, having no pelvis in the middle, but the Ureters going out at the lower end. The Urin bladder oblong, and little for the bulk of the Animal, having on each side a round ligament, made of the umbilical arteries degenerating. The Penis long, slender, having a small sharp Glans; it appears not outwardly, but lies hid in its sheath within the body, doubled up or rather reflected in the form of the letter S, as is that of a Bull. The Testicles lie within the cavity of the Abdomen on each side, as they do in an Hedgehog, and some other Quadrupeds, of an oblong figure; for their internal substance, Seminal vessels both praeparantia & deferentia, Epididymides, Vas pyramidale, Corpus varicosum, & glanulae prostatæ, exactly like to those of Quadrupeds. The Seminal vessels perforate the Vrethra with many little holes, whereof four are most conspicuous somewhat above the neck of the bladder. The Diaphragm was muscular, as in Quadrup. The Heart large, included in a Pericardium, had its two Ventricles; its valvulae Sigmoïdes semilunares, tricuspides & mitrales; its coronary arteries and veins: in a word, the whole structure and substance of the heart and lungs agreed exactly with that of Quadrupeds. The Windpipe was very short, as it must needs be, the fish having no neck; the Larynx at top was of a singular figure, running out with a long neck, and a nob at the end like an old fashioned Ewer. The pipe in the Head, through which this kind of fish draw their breath, and spout out water, lies before the brain, and ends outwardly in one common hole, but inwardly its divided by a bony septum, as it were into two nostrils; but below again it opens into the mouth in one hole. This lower orifice is furnished with a strong sphincter, whereby it may be shut and opened at pleasure, and above this sphincter, the sides of the pipe are lined with a glandulous flesh, which if you press, you shall see start out of many little holes or papillae into the cavity of the pipe, a certain glutinous liquor. Above the nostrils is a strong valve or membrane like an Epiglottis, which serves to stop the pipe, that no water get in there against the fishes will. Within the fistula are six blind holes having no outlet; four tending toward the snout; two above the valve that stops the nostrils; and two beneath it; two tending towards the brain, having a long but narrow cavity for the use of smelling, as I conjecture, though opening the brain I could find neither olfactory nerves nor processus mammillares. The Eyes are small considering the bigness of the fish, and situate at a good distance from the basis of the brain. The Snout is long, and furnished with very large muscles, to root or turn up the sand at the bottom of the Sea for to find fishes, as appears in that we found nothing in his stomach but Sand-Eels, which, as was intimated before, lie buried in the Sand. The Brain and Cerebellum are, for the substance and anfractus of them, the same with those of Quadrupeds, only differing in the figure, as being shorter: But what they want in length, they make up in breadth. They have also the like teguments called dura and pia-mater. Six or seven pair of nerves, besides the Optick: the same ventricles; only in the medulla oblongata we observed not these protuberances called nates and testes. The Skull (Cranium) is not so strong and thick, as in Quadrupeds, but articulated after the same manner to the first Vertebra of the back-bone. This largeness of the brain, and correspondence of it to that of man, argue this Creature to be of more than ordinary wit, and capacity, and make to seem less fabulous and improbable those Ancient stories, related by *I.9.iii* Herodotus concerning Arion: By Pliny the Elder *c.8.* concerning a Dolphin enamoured of a Boy, whom he was wont to carry across a bay of the Sea, from Baiae to Puteoli, to School, &c. By Pliny the Younger, of another enamoured of a boy at Hippo in Africa, whom he was wont to carry upon his back in like manner. The story is worth the noting: Epist. 33.19. But to proceed; this fish had in each Jaw 48 teeth, standing in a row like to little blunt pegs. The Tongue was flat above, of an equal breadth to the very tip, which was toothed or pectinated about the edges, ty'd firmly down to the bottom of the mouth all along the middle, as Aristotle truly faith: whence I cannot but wonder, that Rondelletius should herein contradict Aristotle, and affirm (contrary to truth, as I believe) quod Dolphini ingua est mobilis, qua modo exerci modo condi potest: Unless perchance in this particular the Dolphin differs from the Porpoises. For the Porpoises is, as I take it, the Phocena of the Ancient, which is a lesser sort of Dolphin, and not the Dolphinarus; at least if the fish we are describing were a Porpoise; for the teeth of this fish were lesser than, and of a different figure from, those in the jaw of the Dolphin we got beyond Seas: yet is the difference not great between the Dolphin and Phocena. As for that fish, which our Seamen nowadays call the Dolphin, and which, as it is described by Mr. Terry and Ligon, hath teeth on its tongue, small scales, is firm'd like a rock, of a pleasant smell and taste: what it is I know not, but I am sure it is toto genere different from the Dolphin of the Ancients. We observed not in this fish any Nostrils besides those in the finna, nor any ear-holes or meatus auditorii at all; wherein also Aristotle agreeeth with us; which yet Rondelletius found out near the eyes: it being manifest, faith he, that a Dolphin doth hear, and seeing no creature can hear without a passage for that purpose to convey sounds to the brain: Hac ratione impulsi, cum Delphini cranium diligentissime contemplatus est, maxime illimum audiendum catum, qui ad cerebrum sive patet, inverit statim post oculum, tam exiguum, ut ferè oculorum aciem fugiat. And we observed in the skull a bone answering to the Os petrosum, which most certainly was for the use of hearing. It had 6 short Ribs that had no Cartilages, and seven that had Cartilages (on each side I mean.) The Breast-bone was very small. As for the name name Porpefi, I agree with Geffner, that it was so called, quafi Porcus Piscis, most nations calling this fish Porcus Marinus, or the Sea-swine. Indeed it resembles a Swine in many particulars, as the fat, the strength of the snout, &c. A Letter of Francis Willoughby Esquire, of August 24, 1671. Containing some considerable Observations about that kind of Wasps, call'd Vespa Ichneumones; especially their several ways of Breeding, and among them, that odd way of laying their Eggs in the Bodies of Caterpillars, &c. As I remember, M. Lister's opinion is, that the Musca Ichneumones lay their Eggs in the bodies of Caterpillars; which I look upon as very ingenious and true, and must subscribe to it, though I cannot yet absolutely demonstrate it, as I hoped I should have done before this. These Ichneumones have all four wings, Antennae like Bees; their body hanging to their breast by a slender ligament, as in Wasps; most, if not all, have stings, and are made of a maggot, that spins herself a Theca before she turns into a Nympa. There is great variety of them; Some breed, as Bees do, laying an Egg, which produceth a maggot, which they feed till it comes to its full growth: Others, as we guess, thrust in their Eggs into plants, the bodies of living caterpillars, maggots, &c. For, it is very surprizing to observe, that a great Caterpillar, instead of being changed into a Butterfly (according to the usual course of nature;) should produce sometimes one, sometimes two or three, and sometimes a whole swarm of Ichneumones. I have observed this Anomalous production in a great many sorts of Caterpillars, both hairy, and smooth; in several sorts of maggots, and, which is most strange, in one Water insect. When there come many of these Ichneumon maggots out of the body of the same Caterpillar, they weave all their Theca's together into one bunch, which is sometimes round with web about it just like a bag of spiders Eggs; but I dare venture to answer M. Lister's 10th Quare pag. 2172. of the Phil. Transl. negatively, that none of them feed upon spiders Eggs, but it is the similitude of those Theca's, conglomerated together, to