Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/2790
Scientific nameHyperoodon ampullatus
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
Object nameVagina, Uterus, Organs of Generation, Mounted wet tissue
DescriptionThe uterus of a bottlenosed whale.
According to his notes and published papers Hunter only dissected one example of a bottlenose whale, an immature female caught in the River Thames in 1783. The animal was dissected by Hunter with the assistance of William Andre, Joshua Brookes and Joseph Hurlock.
Production date 1783
Preparator
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Related objectsRCSHC/2788RCSHC/2789RCSHC/2791
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 4: The Long Gallery
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue mounted in a circular glass jar with glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Hyperoodon dalei (error?)
Dimensions
whole height: 354 mm
whole diameter: 147 mm
whole weight: 6000 g
whole diameter: 147 mm
whole weight: 6000 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript2790: The body of the uterus and the beginning of the vagina of the same Bottle-nose. The terminal part of the uterus presents internally a series of transversely disposed large smooth ridges and obtuse processes and should probably be regarded as cervix uteri; the os uteri is divided into five rounded tubercles. About six inches intervene between the os uteri and the first transverse fold of the vagina; the lining membrane in the interspace is puckered up into very fine and numerous wavy wrinkles: below the fold these become larger and more regularly longitudinal.
SourceHunter 1861
Vol. 2, pages 109-113
NotesNotes by Hunter on the anatomy of the 'Bottle-Nose Whale'. These indicate that the animal was an immature female, and was 24 feet 9 inches from mouth to tip of tail round the exterior of the body. This would correspond with the figure of 21 feet given for the animal described in Hunter's paper on the Oeconomy of the Whale Tribe (see below) which probably refers to the preserved skeleton (the length of the only Bottle-nose whale skeleton from Hunter's collection was give as 21 feet by Cuvier, quoted in the 1833 Osteology Catalogue).
SourceHunter 1787d
NotesHunter's original paper on the Oeconomy of the Whale Tribe. The animal from which this preparation was taken is figured as Plate 19, and its source is described in the accompanying caption, pages 447-8.
TranscriptThe Bottle-nose whale described by DALE. It is similar to that of Plate XVIII [the bottle-nose dolphin, named by Hunter as Delphinus Delphis, Linn., now Tursiops truncatus], in its general form, but has only two small pointed teeth in the forepart of the upper jaw, and is rather lighter coloured on the belly. It was caught above London Bridge in the year 1783, and became the property of the late Alderman PUGH, who very politely allowed me to examine its structure, and to take away the bones. It was twenty-one feet long.
