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Title: Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum
Author: Gray, John Edward
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum" ***
OF SEALS AND WHALES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM ***
SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
CATALOGUE
OF
SEALS AND WHALES
IN THE
BRITISH MUSEUM.
BY
JOHN EDWARD GRAY, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES.
1871.
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
_Page_
Suborder PINNIPEDIA 1
Fam. 1. PHOCIDÆ 1
Tribe I. PHOCINA 2
1. Callocephalus 2
2. Pagomys 2
3. Pagophilus 2
equestris. N. Pacific 2
ochotensis. N. Pacific 2
4. Halicyon 2
Richardi. N. Pacific 2
Pealei. Antarctic Seas? 2
5. Phoca 3
barbata. North Sea 3
naurica. N. Pacific 3
Tribe II. HALICHŒRINA 3
6. Halichœrus 3
Tribe III. MONACHINA 3
7. Monachus 3
Tribe IV. STENORHYNCHINA 3
8. Stenorhynchus 3
leptonyx. Falkland Is., New Zealand 4
9. Lobodon 4
10. Leptonyx 4
11. Ommatophoca 4
Tribe V. CYSTOPHORINA 4
12. Morunga 4
elephantina. Falkland Island 4
angustirostris. California 5
13. Cystophora 5
Fam. 2. TRICHECHIDÆ 5
1. Trichechus 6
rosmarus 6
Fam. 3. OTARIADÆ 6
Tribe I. OTARIINA 11, 12
1. Otaria 11, 12
jubata. S. America 13
Tribe II. CALLORHININA 11, 14
2. Callorhinus 11, 14
ursinus. Kamtschatka 15
Tribe III. ARCTOCEPHALINA 11, 15
3. Phocarctos 12, 15
Hookeri. Cape Horn 15
4. Arctocephalus 12, 17
antarcticus. Cape of Good Hope 17
nigrescens. Falkland Islands 20
cinereus. Australia 24
Forsteri. N. Zealand 25
falklandicus. Falkland Islands 25
nivosus. Cape of Good Hope 27
Tribe IV. ZALOPHINA 12, 27
5. Zalophus 12, 27
Gilliespii. N. Pacific 28
6. Neophoca 12, 28
lobata. Australia 28
Tribe V. EUMETOPIINA 12, 29
7. Eumetopias 12, 29
Stelleri. California 30
8. Arctophoca 12, 31
Philippii. Juan-Fernandez Island 32
Order CETACEA 34
Section I. MYSTICETE 35
Suborder I. BALÆNOIDEA 36
Fam. 1. BALÆNIDÆ 36
1. Balæna 37
mysticetus. North Sea 38
mediterranea. Mediterranean 38
angulata. North Sea? 38
nordcaper. Iceland 39
[cullamacha. N. Pacific] 39
2. Neobalæna 39
marginata. New Zealand 40
3. Eubalæna 42
australis. Cape of Good Hope 43
Sieboldii. Kamtschatka 43
[japonica. Japan] 43
cisarctica. Atlantic 43
4. Hunterius 44
Temminckii. Cape of Good Hope 44
biscayensis. St. Sebastian 44
Swedenborgii. North Sea 44
5. Caperea 45
antipodarum. New Zealand 45
6. Macleayius 45
australiensis. Australasia 46
britannicus. Dorsetshire 46
Suborder II. BALÆNOPTEROIDEA 46
Fam. 2. AGAPHELIDÆ 47
1. Agaphelus 47
gibbosus. N. Atlantic 48
2. Rhachianectes 48
glaucus. California 48
Fam. 3. MEGAPTERIDÆ 50
1. Megaptera 50
longimana. North Sea 50
novæ-zelandiæ. New Zealand 50
Burmeisteri. Buenos Ayres 50
americana. Bermuda 50
kuzira. Japan 50
osphyia. Atlantic 51
versabilis. N. Pacific 51
2. Poescopia 51
Lalandii. Cape of Good Hope 51
3. Eschrichtius 52
robustus. Atlantic 52
Fam. 4. PHYSALIDÆ 52
1. Benedenia 52
Knoxii. North Sea 52
2. Physalus 52
antiquorum. North Sea 53
Duguidii. North Sea 53
patachonicus. River Plata 53
brasiliensis. Bahia 53
3. Cuvierius 54
Sibbaldii. North Sea 54
4. Rudolphius 54
laticeps. North Sea 54
5. Sibbaldius 55
borealis. North Sea 55
Schlegelii. Java 55
antarcticus. Buenos Ayres 55
sulphureus. N. Pacific 55
tectirostris. N. Pacific 56
tuberosus. North-east America 56
Fam. 5. BALÆNOPTERIDÆ 56
1. Balænoptera 56
rostrata. North Sea 56
velifera. Oregon 56
2. Swinhoia 57
chinensis. Formosa 57
Section II. DENTICETE 57
Suborder III. PHYSETEROIDEA 57
Fam. 6. CATODONTIDÆ 58
1. Catodon 58
macrocephalus. Trop. 59
2. Meganeuron 59
Krefftii. Australasia 59
Fam. 7. PHYSETERIDÆ 60
1. Physeter 60
tursio. North Sea 60
2. Kogia 60
breviceps. Cape of Good Hope 60
Macleayii. Australia, India 61
3. Euphysetes 61
Grayii. Australia 61
Suborder IV. SUSUOIDEA 61
Fam. 8. PLATANISTIDÆ 62
1. Platanista 62
gangetica. India 62
Indi. India 62
Suborder V. DELPHINOIDEA 62
Fam. 9. INIIDÆ 63
1. Inia 63
Geoffroyii. Brazil 64
Fam. 10. DELPHINIDÆ 64
Tribe I. STENONINA 65
1. Steno 65
frontatus. Indian Ocean 65
compressus. South Sea 65
chinensis. China 65
capensis. Cape of Good Hope 66
lentiginosus. India 66
[roseiventris. Moluccas] 66
tucuxi. Brazil 66
attenuatus. India 66
fuscus 66
[brevimanus. Singapore] 66
[coronatus. Spitzbergen] 66
[rostratus. North Sea] 67
2. Sotalia 67
guianensis. British Guiana 67
Tribe II. DELPHININA 67
3. Delphinus 67
longirostris. Japan, Cape of Good Hope 68
delphis. North Sea 68
Moorei. S. Atlantic 68
major 68
Walkeri. S. Atlantic 68
Janira. Newfoundland 68
fulvifasciatus. Van Diemen’s Land 68
obliquidens. N. Pacific 69
pomeegra. India 69
Forsteri 69
4. Clymenia 69
stenorhyncha 69
microps. Coast of Brazil 69
Alope. Cape Horn 70
Styx. West Africa 70
Euphrosyne. North Sea 70
gadamu. India 70
normalis 70
Doris 70
euphrosynoides 71
dorides 71
obscura. S. Pacific 71
similis. Cape of Good Hope 72
crotaphiscus 72
esthenops 72
5. Delphinapterus 72
Peronii. S. Atlantic 72
6. Tursio 72
truncatus. North Sea 74
erebennus. Philadelphia 74
Metis. West Africa 74
Cymodoce. River Uragua 74
abusalam. Cape of Good Hope 74
Eurynome. South Sea 74
catalania. N. W. Australia 75
7. Eutropia 75
Dickiei. Chili 75
Heavisidii. Cape seas 75
Tribe III. LAGENORHYNCHINA 75
8. Electra 76
obtusa 76
Asia 76
fusiformis. India 76
acuta. North Sea 76
breviceps 76
clancula. S. Pacific 77
crucigera 77
thicolea 77
9. Feresa 78
intermedia 78
10. Leucopleurus 78
arcticus. North Sea 78
11. Lagenorhynchus 79
albirostris. North Sea 79
Tribe IV. PSEUDORCAINA 79
12. Pseudorca 79
crassidens. North Sea 80
meridionalis. Van Diemen’s Land 80
13. Orcaella 80
brevirostris. Ganges 80
fluminalis 80
Tribe V. PHOCÆNINA 81
14. Phocæna 81
communis. North Sea 81
[brachycium. Harbour of Salem] 81
[vomerina. N. Pacific] 81
15. Acanthodelphis 81
spinipinnis. Brazil 81
16. Neomeris 81
phocænoides. India 82
Fam. 11. GRAMPIDÆ 82
1. Grampus 82
Rissoanus. Nice 82
Cuvieri. North Sea 82
Richardsonii. Cape of Good Hope 83
Fam. 12. GLOBIOCEPHALIDÆ. 83
1. Globiocephalus 83
svineval. North Sea 83
[melas. Mediterranean] 83
[affinis. North Sea] 84
[intermedius. Delaware Bay] 84
[Edwardsii. South Sea] 84
[guadaloupensis. Guadaloupe] 84
Grayi. Buenos Ayres 84
macrorhynchus. South Sea 84
[Scammonii. N. Pacific] 85
[australis. Australia] 85
[indicus. Bengal] 85
[Sieboldii. Japan] 85
[chinensis. China] 85
[sibo. Japan] 85
2. Sphærocephalus 85
incrassatus. British Channel 85
Fam. 13. ORCADÆ 85
1. Orca 90
stenorhyncha. North Sea 90
capensis. Cape of Good Hope 90
africana. Algoa Bay 91
latirostris. North Sea 91
[gladiator, var. arcticus. Faroe Islands] 91
[gladiator, var. europæus. Atlantic] 92
[gladiator, var. europæus. Mediterranean] 92
magellanica. Patagonia 92
tasmanica. Tasmania 92
rectipinna. California 92
atra. Oregon 92
2. Ophysia 93
pacifica. N. Pacific 93
Fam. 14. BELUGIDÆ 93
1. Beluga 94
catodon. North Sea 94
[rhinodon. Arctic seas] 94
[declivis. Arctic seas] 94
[angustata. Arctic seas] 94
[canadensis. Canada] 94
Kingii. Australia 95
2. Monodon 95
monoceros. North Sea 95
Fam. 15. PONTOPORIADÆ 95
1. Pontoporia 95
Blainvillii. S. Atlantic 96
Suborder VI. ZIPHIOIDEA 96
Fam. 16. HYPEROODONTIDÆ 96
1. Hyperoodon 96
butzkopf. North Sea 97
[semijunctus. Charlestown] 97
2. Lagenocetus 97
latifrons. North Sea 97
Fam. 17. EPIODONTIDÆ 97
1. Epiodon 98
Desmarestii. North Sea 98
australis. Buenos Ayres 98
2. Petrorhynchus 98
mediterraneus. Mediterranean 98
capensis. South Sea 98
Fam. 18. ZIPHIIDÆ 99
1. Berardius 99
arnuxi. New Zealand 99
2. Ziphius 100
Sowerbiensis. Britain 101
3. Dolichodon 101
Layardii. Cape of Good Hope 101
4. Neoziphius 101
europæus. Mediterranean 101
5. Dioplodon 102
sechellensis. Seychelles 102
SUPPLEMENT TO THE CATALOGUE OF SEALS AND WHALES.
Suborder PINNIPEDIA.
Phocidæ, _Catalogue of Seals & Whales_, p. 1.
Pinnipedia, _Illiger_, _Prodr._ p. 138, 1811.
Pinnipedes, _Gill’s Prodomus_, _Proceedings Essex Institute_,
vol. v. 1866.
Family 1. PHOCIDÆ.
Muffle hairy on the edge, and between the nostrils. Ears without any
conch, merely a small aperture. Arms and legs very short; wrist very
short. Toes subequal, arched, exserted. Hind feet large, fan-shaped; the
inner and outer toes large and long, the three middle ones shorter. The
palms and soles hairy. Claws distinct, sharp. Skull:—postorbital process
none or obsolete; no alisphenoid canal; the mastoid process swollen,
seeming to form part of the auditory bulla. The scapula expanded upwards
and backwards towards the posterior superior angle. Testicles enclosed in
the body of the animal, without any external scrotum.
Phocidæ, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1869, vol. iv. pp. 268,
342, 344; _Gill_, _Proc. Essex Instit._ 1866, p. 5; _Allen_,
_Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii, 1870.
Sect. I. _Cutting-teeth 6/4, curved, conical, and small. The palate
produced nearly to the hinder molars._
Tribe I. _PHOCINA._
Skull tapering in front. Nose-hole moderate. Molars, except the first,
with two roots.
Phocina, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 20.
Inhab. North Atlantic and Arctic Seas.
1. CALLOCEPHALUS.
Callocephalus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 20.
2. PAGOMYS.
Pagomys, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 22.
3. PAGOPHILUS.
Pagophilus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 25.
1. Pagophilus? equestris.
Brown, with a ring round the head, a ring round the fore limbs, and a
broad band round the middle, white. The female whitish brown, with an
obscure band across the hinder part of the back.
Phoca equestris, _Pallas_, _Zoog. Ross.-Asiat._ i. p. 340;
_Schrenck_, _Amur-Land_, p. 182, tab. 9. figs. 1-3.
Phoca fasciata, _Shaw_, _Zool._ i. p. 276 (from the
Ribbon-Seal, _Pennant’s Quad._ 276).
Phoca annellata, _Radde_, _Reisen im Süden von Ost-Sibirien_,
1862, i. p. 296, t. 1-3.
Inhab. North Pacific.
2. Pagophilus? ochotensis.
Phoca ochotensis, _Pallas_, _Zoog. Ross.-Asiat._ i. p. 117;
_Schrenck_, _Amur-Land_, p. 181.
Inhab. North Pacific.
4. HALICYON.
Halicyon, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 27.
1. Halicyon Richardi.
Halicyon Richardi, _Cat. S. & Whales_, p. 30.
Inhab. North Pacific; Columbia River.
2. Halicyon Pealei.
Halichœrus antarcticus, _T. Peale_, _U. S. Expl. Exp._
Mr. Gill says that this is a typical species of _Phoca_, but appears to
be identical with those that occur along the Californian and Oregonian
coast, so that there must be some error as to the assigned habitat in the
Antarctic seas—and proposes the name _Phoca Pealii_ (Proc. Essex Instit.
vol. v. p. 4).
5. PHOCA.
Phoca, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, pp. 6 & 31.
Erignathus, _Gill_, 1865.
1. Phoca barbata.
Phoca barbata, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 31.
Phoca lanica, _Rees_, _Cyclopædia_, PHOCA (from _Lepechin_).
Inhab. North Sea.
2. Phoca naurica.
Phoca barbata, _Temminck_, _Fauna Japonica_.
Phoca naurica _et_ Phoca albigena, _Pallas_, _Zoog.
Ross.-Asiat._ i. pp. 108, 109 (vide _Schrenck_); _Schrenck_,
_Amur-Land_, p. 181.
Inhab. North Pacific; Japan. Mus. Leyden.
Tribe II. _HALICHŒRINA._
Muzzle broad, rounded. Skull higher in front. Nose-hole very large.
Grinders conical; the two hinder of the upper and the hinder one of the
lower jaw double-rooted.
Inhab. North Atlantic and Arctic Seas.
6. HALICHŒRUS.
Halichœrus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, pp. 6 & 33.
Sect. II _Cutting-teeth four above, and four or two below._
Tribe III. _MONACHINA._
Cutting-teeth 4/4; upper transversely notched. Palatine bones not
produced beyond the inner margin of the orbits.
Inhab. Mediterranean and North Atlantic.
7. MONACHUS.
Monachus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, pp. 6 & 17.
Tribe IV. _STENORHYNCHINA._
Cutting-teeth 4/4; conical, acute. Hinder feet nearly clawless.
Stenorhynchina, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 8.
Inhab. Antarctic Ocean.
1. _Lower jaw strong, angulated behind. Grinders two-rooted, except the
first in each jaw._
8. STENORHYNCHUS.
Stenorhynchus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 15; _Gill_,
_l. c._ p. 10.
1. Stenorhynchus leptonyx.
Stenorhynchus leptonyx, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 16.
Stenorhynchus leptonyx (Sea-leopard), _Abbott_, _P. Z. S._
1868, pp. 192 & 527.
Inhab. Falkland Islands (_Abbott_, _Lecomte_).
This Seal appears to extend from the Antarctic seas to New Zealand, the
shores of New South Wales, and the Falkland Islands.
2. _Lower jaw moderate. The three front upper and first front lower
grinders single-rooted; the rest two-routed._
9. LOBODON.
Lobodon, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 8; _Gill_, _l. c._
p. 10.
3. _Lower jaw very weak. Front grinder in each jaw single-rooted; the
rest two-rooted._
10. LEPTONYX.
Leptonyx, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 11; _Gill_, _l. c._ p. 10.
11. OMMATOPHOCA.
Ommatophoca, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 13; _Gill_, _l. c._ p.
10.
Tribe V. _CYSTOPHORINA._
Cutting-teeth 4/4; grinders with large swollen roots and a small
compressed simple plated crown. Muffle of male with a dilatable appendage.
Cystophorina, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 38.
12. MORUNGA.
Morunga, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 38.
Macrorhinus, _Gill_, _l. c._ p. 9.
1. Morunga elephantina.
Morunga elephantina, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 39.
One of the Falkland Islands is called Elephant Island, from the former
abundance of Sea-elephants there; but Mr. Sclater informs us that when
Lecomte visited it, it was “found to be quite deserted by this animal,
which is said now to be entirely extinct in the Falklands, though its
former abundance in certain spots is well known, and is further testified
by remains of its bones and teeth met with on the shores, specimens of
which were obtained and sent home.”—_P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 527. See Dr.
Sclater’s previous statement, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 189.
This latter assertion is a mistake, for the bones sent home were those of
_O. jubata_, as is proved by the following remarks of Dr. Murie:—“Lecomte
and his companions believed these large old skulls of _Otaria jubata_
[which he brought home] to be those of the Elephant-seal (_Morunga
elephantina_), as it was stated by some of the party that those animals
formerly did exist on this island. One of the pilots (Louis Despreaux
by name) had resided thirty-two years on the Falkland Islands, and he
distinctly remembered shooting many Elephant-seals in the neighbourhood
in bygone years; but about twelve years ago they began to get scarce and
disappear.” And further on he observes that they are “now only rarely met
with in the Falklands.”—_P. Z. S._ 1869, pp. 106 & 109.
2. Morunga angustirostris.
Macrorhinus angustirostris, _Gill_, _l. c._ p. 13; _Cope_,
_Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Philad._ 1865, p. 51.
Inhab. California from Cape San Lucas to Point Reyes.
Its colour is light brown when the hair is grown to the full length. The
males are from 18 to 22 feet long. Females 10 feet long. Canines of the
males 4 or 5 inches long.
13. CYSTOPHORA.
Cystophora, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 40; _Gill_, _l. c._
* * * * *
_North Atlantic._
Callocephalus vitulinus.
Callocephalus dimidiatus.
Pagomys fœtidus.
Pagophilus grœnlandicus.
Phoca barbata.
Halichœrus grypus.
Cystophora cristata.
_Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal._
Callocephalus caspica.
*Pagomys fœtidus.
_Tropical Atlantic._
Monachus tropicalis. _Jamaica._
Cystophora antillarum. _West Indies._
_Mediterranean and Subtropical Atlantic._
Monachus albiventer.
_North Pacific._
Halicyon Richardi.
Halicyon? Pealii.
Pagophilus? equestris.
Pagophilus? ochotensis.
Phoca naurica.
Morunga angustirostris.
_Antarctic Ocean._
Lobodon carcinophaga.
Leptonyx Weddellii.
Ommatophoca Rossii.
Stenorhynchus leptonyx.
Morunga elephantina.
_New Zealand._
Stenorhynchus leptonyx.
_Australia._
Stenorhynchus leptonyx.
Family 2. TRICHECHIDÆ.
Trichechidæ, _Gray_, _Ann. Philosoph._ 1825, p. 348; _Ann. &
Mag. N. H._ 1869, iv. p. 268.
Rosmaridæ, _Gill_, _Proc. Essex Inst._ v. 1866, p. 11.
Trichechina (part.), _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 33.
Muzzle very broad, truncate, convex, swollen above. Ears without any
conch. Eyes prominent. Canines very large, exserted. Cutting-teeth 4/2
in young, and 2/2 in adult; grinders all single-rooted. The anterior
feet as large as the posterior ones; the fingers decrease in a curved
line, destitute of claws; the hind feet with five toes, very gradually
increasing towards the inner, all provided with claws; palms and soles
hairy in the young, becoming chaffy. Tail rudimentary. Skull with no
postorbital processes. A distinct alisphenoid canal. Mastoid process
strong and salient, with its surface continuous with the auditory bulla.
The scapula, hinder margin nearly straight, with the spine a short
distance from and somewhat parallel with it. Resting on its body with
the fore feet extended and the hind feet doubled under it, moving by the
exertion of the abdominal muscles. (See P. Z. S. 1853, p. 112.)
1. TRICHECHUS.
Trichechus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 35.
1. Trichechus ⸺?
Trichechus rosmarus, _Schrenck_, _Amur-Land_, p. 179.
Inhab. North Pacific.
Family 3. OTARIADÆ.
Nose simple; muffle rather large, callous above and between the nostrils.
Ears with a cylindrical, external conch. Arms and legs rather elongate.
The fore and hind feet fringed. Fore feet fin-like, with a scolloped
naked membrane. Palms and soles bald, longitudinally grooved, more or
less triangular. Fingers gradually diminish in size from the inner
side. Hind feet elongate, narrow, all clawless. Toes nearly of equal
length, the outer one on each side being rather the strongest (see Cat.
Seals and Whales, p. 44, f. 15). Three middle toes clawed. The fur is
generally provided with a more or less thick under-fur. Skull with a
postorbital process. An alisphenoid canal. Mastoid process strong and
salient, extending aloof from the auditory bulla. Cutting-teeth 6/4,
upper often bifid; canines conical; grinders 5/5 or 6/5. The scapula is
curved backward to the upper angle, but with its spine or crest near
the posterior margin. Testicles enclosed in the small external scrotum.
They walk on their fore and hind limbs; they rest with the hind part of
the body bent down, and the legs directed forward, like the Morse. The
females lie on their backs to receive the caresses of the male; and the
young are born on shore and are gradually taught to swim.
Otariadæ, _Brookes, Mus. Cat._ 1836, pp. 18, 28; _Gray_, _Ann.
& Mag. N. H._ 1869, iv. p. 268; _Gill_, _Proc. Essex Inst._
1866, v. p. 7; _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 27.
Arctocephalina, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 44.
The Eared Seals (Otariadæ) form a distinct family from the Earless
Seals (Phocidæ). They have more power of using their limbs like the more
typical mammalia, walking on them with the body raised from the ground;
they rest with their hind limbs bent forwards. These habits are well
shown in Dr. Forster’s figures, engraved by Buffon; and they have been
verified by the study of the living Eared Seal in the Zoological Gardens.
Their scrotum and genital organs are exposed as in the Dog.
The _Otariæ_ come to the surface during the process of mastication, and
do not, like the Eared Seals, swallow under the water. They do not drink,
while the common Seal occasionally sucks in water as a horse would. The
pupils of the eyes dilate and contract to an enormous extent.
The Sea-bears (_Otariadæ_) inhabit the more temperate and colder parts of
the southern hemisphere, and the temperate and more northern regions of
the Pacific Ocean.
The _Otariæ_ appear to make periodical migrations towards the south; and
the Sea-lions (_O. jubata_) come to the Falkland Islands in November,
where they remain till June or July, when the greater number depart; but
some remain there the whole year round (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).
Navigators, from the general external resemblance of the animals, have
regarded the Sea-lion and Sea-bear of the northern and southern regions
as the same animal. Pennant (who paid considerable attention to Seals)
and most modern zoologists have done the same.
Nilsson, in his excellent Monograph of the Seals, only mentions three
species of Eared Seal:—1, _Otaria jubata_; 2, _O. ursina_; and, 3,
_O. australis_. He believed that the first was common to the Falkland
Islands, Chile, Brazil, New Holland, and Kamtschatka, and the second to
Magellan’s Straits, Patagonia, New Holland, and the Cape. We now know
that the species have a very limited geographical distribution.
When I published my ‘Catalogue of the Seals in the British Museum,’ in
1850, I was satisfied from Steller’s description that the species he
described from the Arctic regions were distinct from those found in the
Southern seas; and when I at last succeeded in obtaining specimens and
skulls from the northern regions of the Pacific, I not only found that my
idea was confirmed, but that they did not even belong to the same genera.
I had the skulls of these species figured in the ‘Proceedings of the
Zoological Society’ for 1859, and this greatly extended the knowledge of
the animals. But there is yet much to be learnt respecting them. We do
not know the species of Fur-seal described by Forster as inhabiting the
coast of New Zealand.
The skull of these animals changes so much in form as the animal
arrives at adult and old age that it is not always easy to determine
the species by it, unless you have a series of them, of different ages
and states, to compare. Thus Dr. Peters, in his revision of the genus
after the publication of my Catalogue and figures of the skulls in
the ‘Voyage of the Erebus and Terror’ and in the ‘Proceedings of the
Zoological Society,’ formed no less than five species from the skulls of
the southern Sea-lion (_Otaria jubata_)—_O. jubata_, _O. Byronia_, _O.
leonina_, _O. Godeffroyi_, and _O. Ulloæ_,—referring the first four to
the subgenus _Otaria_, and the last to _Phocarctos_ (see Monatsbericht,
May 1866, pp. 265, 270). In his second essay, published a few months
later (_ibid._ Nov. 1866), after his visit to London, he placed them all
together in one subgenus (_Otaria_), and seems, by the way in which he
has numbered four of them, to doubt their distinctness. It would have
been better if he had at once simply reduced them to synonyms (as they
must be reduced) and included with them _O. Ulloæ_, which is only the
skull of a young specimen, such as was called _O. molossina_ by Lesson
and Garnet. I may observe that I had shown in my first ‘Catalogue of
Seals’ (1850), from the examination of the typical skull, that two or
three of these nominal species were only very old or young skulls of the
southern Sea-lion.
It is the character of the Eared Seals or _Otariadæ_ to have a very
close, soft under-fur between the roots of the longer and more rigid
hairs. They are therefore called _Fur-Seals_ by the sealers, and are
hunted for their skin as well as for their oil. The quantity and fineness
of the under-fur differ in the various species; and the skin and
under-fur bear a price in the market according to the country and the
species from which they are obtained.
Some species of the family have so little under-fur when they arrive
at adult age, that they are of no value in the market to be made into
“seal-skins;” these are therefore called _Hair-Seals_ by the sealers.
They are only collected for the oil, as the skins are of comparatively
little value.
The skins of the Fur-Seal are much used in China, and are more or less
the fashion in this country, sometimes being far more expensive than at
others. The skins of the Hair-Seals are only used, like the skins of
the Earless Seals or _Phocidæ_, for very inferior purposes, as covering
boxes, knapsacks, &c.; but the animals are much sought after for the oil
they afford.
The furs of the different species of Fur-Seals are exceedingly different
in external appearance, especially in the younger specimens, or when
the fur is in its most perfect condition. In most species the hairs are
much longer than the under-fur; they are flat and more or less rigid
and crisp. In others the hairs are short, much softer, scarcely longer
than the soft woolly under-fur; in these species the fur is very dense,
standing nearly erect from the skin, forming a very soft elastic coat, as
in _O. falklandicus_ and _O. Stelleri_.
The hair of _O. nigrescens_ is considerably longer than that of _O.
cinerea_, but not so harsh, the fur of the half-grown _O. nigrescens_
being longer, sparse, flat, rather curled at the end, giving a crispness
to the feel; while the hairs of the very young specimens are abundant,
nearly of equal length, forming an even coat that is soft and smooth to
the touch.
The length, abundance, and, indeed, the presence or absence of the
under-fur greatly depend on the season at which the specimen is obtained
or observed. It is true that the sealers call some seals hair- and others
fur-seals; but that is only because what they call hair-seals never had
more than a very small quantity of under-fur in the fur-season; but, on
the other hand, many fur-seals at some seasons have only a small quantity
of the under-fur which is so long and abundant at other periods.
Difficult as it is for the zoologist to distinguish the species by their
external appearance, the skins of the different species of Fur-Seals are
easily distinguished by the dealers, even when they are wet, showing
that the practical fellmonger is in advance of the scientific man in
such particulars, as the dealers in whalebone were in regard to the
distinction of the species of the Whale by their baleen (see Zool. Erebus
& Terror).
The longer hairs of the Fur-Seals are very slender and pale-coloured at
the basal half of their length, and thicker and darker at the upper half,
and often have a white tip. The basal half is subcylindrical, the upper
half is flat, tapering at each end. The absolute length of the under-fur
differs in the various species. Judging from the old and young specimens
of _A. nigrescens_, the hairs seem to be longer, both absolutely and
relatively to the under-fur, in the young than in the adult animals.
The hairs of the Hair-Seals are shorter, flat, channelled above, and
gradually tapering from the base to the tip, merely contracted at the
insertion into the skin. The breadth of the hairs seems to vary in the
different species; and in the younger specimens there are to be observed
some soft hairs like the under-fur of the Fur-Seals.
The _Fur-Seals_ are _Callorhinus ursinus_, _Arctocephalus antarcticus_,
_A. nigrescens_, _A. cinereus_, _A. Forsteri_, _A. falklandicus_,
_Eumetopias Stelleri_, _Arctophoca Philippii_.
The _Hair-Seals_ are _Otaria jubata_, _Phocarctos Hookeri_,
_Arctocephalus nivosus_, _Zalophus Gilliespii_, _Neophoca lobatus_.
Dr. Peters, in his two papers on the Eared Seals (_Otaria_) uses the
length of the ears and the existence or non-existence of the under-fur,
as well as the characters used by Mr. Gill and myself, to separate the
species of these animals into subgenera.
The length of the ears may probably afford good characters for the
separation of the species and groups, if they can be observed in the
living animals. As yet, only one species of these animals, the Sea-lion
or Sea-bear (_Otaria leonina_), has been observed alive in Europe; so
that Dr. Peters’s notes could only be derived from the examination of
more or less carefully preserved skins; and, I fear, little dependence
can be placed on them.
The form of the hinder opening of the nostrils and the form of its front
edge, when only one or two skulls of a species were examined, have been
regarded as constituting a good character; but when an extensive series
of the skulls of a single species, or of several species, have been
examined, that part is found to vary considerably as to the width of its
different parts, and especially in the form of its front edge. As far as
my observations have extended, the hinder opening of the nostrils appears
to become narrower, and especially its front edge, as the animal becomes
adult or aged; and in the skulls of the younger specimens it is broader,
shorter, and the front edge is broader and more truncated or straight,
with only a slight rounding at the sides.
The position of the grinders as regards the front part of the zygomatic
arch is a good character for the distinction of the species, especially
if a series of skulls from animals of different ages, and from the same
locality, of each species are compared together; and it is the same
with the rooting of the grinders themselves. But when adult skulls of
different species are compared together, the forms of the skulls are so
altered, the grinders generally so worn and altered by age, and their
position in different species so similar, that the distinction of the
species then becomes more difficult.
The flap of thick bald skin produced beyond the hinder toes varies in
length as compared with the toes, in the length of it before it divides
into lobes, and the length of the lobes themselves in different species,
and thus affords characters for their separation; but it is difficult to
determine the proper length of it and its parts from a preserved specimen
in the Museum. It is apt to be unnaturally stretched in length and width
by the preparer, and it shrinks as it dries long after it is placed in
the Museum.
If I am not deceived by the prepared skins, the flap appears to be
longer in the adult than in the young specimens; and judging from
the specimens in the Museum, it is longest in _Callorhinus ursinus_,
and it gradually becomes shorter in _Arctocephalus antarcticus_, _A.
falklandicus_, _Phocarctos Hookeri_, _A. cinereus_, _Otaria jubata_, and
_A. nigrescens_. It is very short in _Neophoca lobata_ and _Eumetopias
Stelleri_.
The “Prodrome of a Monograph of the Pinnipedes,” by Mr. Theodore Gill,
wherein he named several genera of this group, and a paper by Dr. Peters
on the _Otariæ_ of the Berlin Museum, in the ‘Monatsbericht’ for May
1866, have induced me to reexamine the skulls and skeletons in the
British Museum.
I may observe that Dr. Peters considers all the Eared Seals one genus,
but has divided them into seven subgenera, to each of which he gives a
distinctive name. Dr. Peters’s paper is interesting as determining the
specimens described by Pander and D’Alton, Johann Müller, and other
German naturalists, as well as describing the more recently received
specimens in the Berlin Museum, which certainly is one of the most
important on the Continent.
Captain Thomas Musgrave, in a work entitled ‘Cast away on the Aucklands,’
12mo, 1866, pp. 141 and following, gives a very interesting account of
the habits and manners of the Lion-seal, showing how unlike they are in
their habits to the Seals without ears (Phocidæ). The female brings forth
her young far inland, and has to teach them to take to the water which is
to be their future home.
Captain Weddell gives nearly the same account of the habits of the
Fur-Seal, as does also Mr. Hamilton (in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p.
87).
Mr. J. A. Allen, in the ‘Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology’
at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., has published (1870) an essay
on the Eared Seals (Otariadæ), with detailed descriptions of the
North-Pacific species.
He divides the family into subfamilies:—
Subfam. 1. _Trichophocinæ_, without under-fur, and containing the genera
OTARIA, EUMETOPIAS, ZALOPHUS.
Subfam. 2. _Eulophocinæ_, with thick under-fur, containing CALLORHINUS
and ARCTOCEPHALUS.
He gives figures of the skulls of different ages of the North-Pacific
species.
Mr. Allen had only the skins in salt and the bones of two North-Pacific
species to study, and he does not seem to be aware that the abundance
of the under-fur greatly depends on the season and age of the animal
when collected; and unfortunately he seems to have had no specimens or
skulls of the southern species to enable him to study their characters;
yet with these limited materials he has ventured to propose a revision
of the species of Otariadæ, and, from the same cause, has suggested
the uniting of many incongruous species together. It may be very true
that zoologists have erred (myself among the number) in making too many
genera and species; but the correction of this error requires as much
study and consideration of the entire subject as have been used in their
determination; and science is not advanced by hasty alterations founded
on a few specimens.
The Eared Seals are collected for their oil and skins. Most of the
species have very dense under-fur of soft erect hairs between the bases
of the longer hairs. These are called “Fur-Seals;” and the skins, when
deprived of their long hairs, are very valuable. The dressed furs of
the various species and localities are of very different commercial
and economic value. The skins of _Neophoca lobata_ (of Australia) and
_Phocarctos Hookeri_ (of the Southern Ocean), being nearly destitute of
this under-fur, are called _Hair-Seals_ by the sealers. Their skins are
of little comparative value, as they are only used like the skins of the
Earless Seals (Phocidæ).
SYNOPSIS OF THE GENERA.
Section I. _Palate produced behind to a line even with the condyles of
the jaw. Grinders 6/5·6/5. Under fur sparse._ Sea-lions.
Tribe 1. OTARIINA.
1. _Otaria._ Antarctic Seas. East and west coast of South America.
Section II. _Palate only extended behind to a line even with the middle
part of the zygomatic arch._ Sea-bears.
Tribe 2. CALLORHININA. Grinders 6/5·6/5. Skull oblong; face broad,
shorter than the orbit; forehead arched. Flap of toes very long.
2. _Callorhinus._ Under-fur abundant. North-west coast of America.
Tribe 3. ARCTOCEPHALINA. Grinders 6/5·6/5; face of the skull shelving
in front; the fifth and sixth grinders behind the front of the zygomatic
arch. Flap of toes moderate.
3. _Phocarctos._ Grinders large, lobed, the six upper with two notches on
the hinder edge. Under-fur sparse. South America.
4. _Arctocephalus._ Grinders thick; crown conical. Under-fur abundant.
Tribe 4. ZALOPHINA. Grinders 5/5·5/5, large, thick, in a close continuous
series; the fifth upper in front of the back edge of the zygomatic arch.
5. _Zalophus._ Grinders large and thick, in a close uniform series.
Under-fur sparse. North Pacific.
6. _Neophoca._ Grinders large, thick, all equal, in a continuous uniform
series. Under-fur sparse. Flap of toes very short. Australia.
Tribe 5. EUMETOPIINA. Grinders 5/5·5/5, more or less far apart; the
hinder upper behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch, and separated
from the other grinders by a concave space.
7. _Eumetopias._ Under-fur sparse. Flap of toes very short. West coast of
North America.
8. _Arctophoca._ Under-fur abundant. Flap of toes long. West coast of
South America.
Sect. I. _The palate produced behind to a line even with the condyles.
The palatine surface of the maxillaries extending behind the teeth and
with its posterior processes very long. It is deeply concave behind, and
becomes deeper as the animal increases in age. The hinder nostril is
short, with a truncated front edge. Flap of toes rather long._ Sea-lions.
Tribe I. _OTARIINA._
Otariina, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1869, vol. iv. p. 269.
1. OTARIA.
Grinders 6/5. In the adult skulls the fourth upper grinder is under the
front edge of the orbit, and the sixth or last in a line with the back
edge of the zygomatic arch. The hinder edge of the palate is rather in
front, on the line of the condyles. The teeth in the younger skull are
more lobed than in the adult; the upper grinders are also differently
disposed; the third upper grinder is under the front edge of the orbit,
and the fifth tooth is in a line with the back edge of the zygomatic
arch, and the last or sixth tooth is far behind it (see skull, Cat. S. &
W. p. 58, f. 18). This change is remarkable, as the teeth of the young
and the adult _Zalophus Gilliespii_ are similar in number and position.
Otaria (subg. Otaria), _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, p. 263.
Otaria, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 57; _Ann. & Mag. N.
H._ 1866, vol. xviii. p. 230; _Gill_, and _Peters_.
Platyrhynchus, _F. Cuvier_.
1. Otaria jubata. _Sea-lion._
Fur dark brown; cheeks, temples, and sides of the forehead black; neck
greyish brown; back of the neck yellow-brown; belly dusky black; hairs
flat, tapering, dark brown, yellow, and whitish intermixed, without any
under-fur.
Sea-bear, _Illustrated London News_; _Boy’s Own Book_.
Otaria jubata, _label in Zoological Gardens_, 1865; _Gray_,
_Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1868, i. p. 109; _Murie, P. Z. S._
1869, p. 101, t. viii. (male, female, and young); _Abbott_,
_P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 190; _Sclater_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 528;
_Peters_, _Monatsber_. 1866, p. 262.
Otaria leonina, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp. 264, 665;
_Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 59, f. 18.
Otaria Godeffroyi, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, p. 266, t. 1.
Otaria Byronia, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp. 269 & 666.
Otaria (Phocarctos) Ulloæ, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, p. 270.
Otaria Ulloæ, _Tschudi_, _Fauna Peruana_, pp. 135, 136, t. vi.
Otaria (Otaria) Ulloæ, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp. 667 & 671.
Inhab. South America, Falkland Islands, Chili.
The oldest of the three adult skulls in the British Museum differs from
the other two in the pterygoid processes of the hinder edge of the palate
being closer together than in the rest; but this character seems to
depend on the greater age of the animal, as it differs slightly in the
other two specimens. In all the younger specimens, varying greatly in
size, the pterygoid processes are far apart.
Dr. Peters considers (1) _Platyrhynchus leoninus_ of F. Cuvier, (2)
_Phoca Byronia_ of Blainville, and (3) an adult specimen which is in
the Hamburg Museum, and of which he described and figured the skull as
_O. Godeffroyi_, to be distinct species. I cannot see any difference
between the skull in the College of Surgeons, on which _Phoca Byronia_
was founded, and those in the British Museum; and the figure of the
skull described as _O. Godeffroyi_ is very similar to the skull in the
British-Museum collection which I have called _O. jubata_.
This animal has the harsh fur without any under-fur of _Phocarctos
Hookeri_; but it entirely differs from that animal in the colour of the
fur. This cannot arise from the greater age of the animal, as it is not
nearly so large as the half-grown _P. Hookeri_ in the British Museum.
In the dark blackish-brown colour of the fur and the pale-brown colour
of the nape, and in the absence of the under-fur, this Seal resembles
the adult _Neophoca lobata_ from Australia; but in that species the
pale colour extends all over the crown, while in the young male _Otaria
jubata_ there are only a few paler scattered hairs on the middle of the
crown and nose.
Dr. Murie represents the skull of a nearly full-grown male and of a
female nearly of the same age (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 103. f. 1, 2). They
greatly differ, the nose and the palate being much wider in the male
than in the female, and the teeth in the male (but this may be only an
individual peculiarity) were much worn down.
He observes, “the whole of the palate is much narrower than in the male
of the same size, especially in the maxillary region, and the teeth are
much weaker and more sharply pointed.”
He observes, “The young of both sexes are alike of a dark brown or very
deep chocolate colour. The males about a year old retain somewhat of the
chocolate tint of their youth, which, however, is paler, and subsequently
changes annually as the coat is shed. The females of equal age assume a
dark grey hue dorsally, while the abdominal parts are light yellowish. As
they grow older they alter little.
“Males a couple of years old or more become of a rich brown shade on the
back and sides, and lighter or yellowish beneath. Old males alone are
maned.
“There is a sparse underwool on the young, which sensibly diminishes with
age.
“The skulls of the adult male and female differ considerably, the latter
being comparatively the narrower of the two—the former possessing a
somewhat different form of teeth, besides proportionally immense canines.
“The teeth of _Otaria jubata_ are subject occasionally to a peculiar
wearing, of a median constricted character.
“Between the female and male of this species there is a wide difference
as regards the stretch of the pectoral flippers. In the skin of the male
the breadth from tip to tip of the fore flippers is equal to or greater
than the length of the body; in the female the reverse obtains. This fact
points to greater strength and swimming-power of the former.”
Sect. II. _The palate rather produced behind. The front edge of the
hinder nasal opening in a line with the middle of the zygomatic arch._
Sea-bears.
Tribe II. _CALLORHININA._
Grinders 6/5·6/5. Skull oblong; face broad, shorter than the orbit;
forehead arched. See Cat. S. & W. p. 45, f. 16 (skull).
Callorhinina, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1869, vol. iv. p. 269.
2. CALLORHINUS.
Skull elongate; forehead rounded in front of the orbit, rather swollen.
Palate rather concave, as wide in front as at the end of the tooth-line,
rather narrowed behind. The sixth upper grinder just behind the hinder
edge of the zygomatic arch; the grinders moderate, fifth and sixth upper
and the fifth lower with two diverging roots. Front flapper small,
narrow. Flap of toes very long.
Callorhinus, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1859, p. 359; _Annals & Mag.
N. H._ 1866, vol. xviii. p. 234; _Cat. S. & W._ p. 44, f. 16
(skull); _Peters_.
Arctocephalus, _Gill_!
1. Callorhinus ursinus. _Northern Sea-Bear._
B.M.
Phoca ursina, _Linn._; _Pander & D’Alton_, t. 7. f. 1 (not
good).
Otaria (Callorhinus) ursina, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp. 273
& 672.
Otaria Stelleri (part.), _Lesson & Müller_.
Callorhinus ursinus, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1859, p. 359, t. 58
(skull); _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, xviii. p. 235; _Cat. Seals &
W._ p. 44, f. 16 (skull); _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii.
pp. 44 & 73, tab. 2 & 3. figs. 1-8.
Arctocephalus ursinus, _Gill_, _Proc. Essex Inst._ vol. v.
1866, p. 13 (not _F. Cuvier_).
_Young._ Arctocephalus monteriensis, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1859,
p. 358 (skin only).
Arctocephalus californianus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p.
51 (skin only).
Inhab. Kamtschatka. B.M.
Tribe III. _ARCTOCEPHALINA._
Grinders 6/5·6/5; face of the skull shelving in front; the fifth and
sixth grinders behind the front of the zygomatic arch.
3. PHOCARCTOS.
The skull elongate, forehead flat. The palate concave, deep, with a
thickened margin on each side in front, widest in the middle part of
the tooth-line, and gradually narrowed behind the teeth; the internal
nares oblong, longer than broad, truncate in front, the front edge in
a line with the orbital process of the zygomatic arch. Grinders large,
compressed; the fifth and sixth upper behind the back edge of the
zygomatic arch. The grinders have compressed roots; some of them have a
very indistinct longitudinal groove on the side; the fifth upper grinder
has two distinct roots. The ear-bones scarcely prominent, with a flat
lower surface. Flap of toes moderate.
I have not seen an adult skull of this genus. The skulls described are 10
inches long, but the bones are not knit (see Cat. S. & W. p. 47, f. 17).
Arctocephalus § II., _Gray_, _Proc. Zool. Soc._ 1859, p. 109.
Phocarctos, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, vol. xviii. p.
234.
Otaria (part.), _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 44.
1. Phocarctos Hookeri. _The Southern Hair-Seal._
B.M.
Fur brown-grey, slightly grizzled, pale, nearly white beneath; hairs
short, close-pressed, rather slender, flattened, black, with whitish
tips, the tips becoming longer on the under part of the sides; feet
reddish or black; whiskers black or whitish.
Young pale yellow, varied with darker irregular patches; length 18
inches. B.M.
Arctocephalus Hookeri, _Gray_, _Zool. Erebus and Terror_, t.
14, 15 (skull); _Cat. Seals B. M._ p. 45. f. 15; _P. Z. S._
1859, pp. 109, 360, _Cat. Seals and Whales B. M._ pp. 53, 54.
Arctocephalus falklandicus, _Burmeister_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._
1866, xviii. t. 9. f. 1, 2, 3, 4 (skull only).
Otaria (Phocarctos) Hookeri, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp. 269
& 671.
Phocartos Hookeri, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, vol.
xviii. p. 234 (the Hair-Seal of the sealers).
Otaria jubata (part.), _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p.
45.
Young or albino? entirely cream-coloured, about 2 feet long.
Eared Seal, _Pennant, Quad._ ii. p. 278.
Phoca flavescens, _Shaw, Gen. Zool._ i. p. 200, t. 73 (from
_Pennant_).
Inhab. Falkland Islands and Cape Horn.
Pennant, in his ‘Quadrupeds,’ describes an Eared Seal, rather more than
2 feet long, the whole body of which was covered with longish hair of a
whitish or cream-colour; it was brought from the Straits of Magellan,
and preserved in Parkinson’s Museum on the south side of Blackfriar’s
Bridge (see “Eared Seal,” Pennant’s Quad. ii. p. 278). Dr. Shaw, in his
‘General Zoology,’ gave the name of _Phoca flavescens_ to this species,
and figured it (i. p. 260, t. 73).
This is very probably the young of the Hair-Seal of the Falklands,
described by me as _Arctocephalus Hookeri_, which is of a pale-yellowish
colour. Pennant does not mention the want of the under-fur.
Dr. Burmeister observes:—“We have in the Museum [at Buenos Ayres] a young
half-grown specimen [of _Arctocephalus falklandicus_] nearly 3 feet long.
From this I have taken the skull, of which I send you a description and
drawings” (Ann. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 99, t. 9. f. 1, 2, 3, 4). From
the comparison of the figures, and especially of the teeth and the form
of the palate, with our older skull of _Arctocephalus Hookeri_, I have
little doubt that it is the skull of a specimen of that species before
the grinders were all developed. It is not the skull of _Otaria jubata_,
which the other specimen he called _A. falklandicus_ is, as proved by the
form and position of the hinder nasal openings. The figure of the young
skull differs from the older skull of _A. Hookeri_ in the British Museum
in having a notch in the middle, while the older skull of _A. Hookeri_
has a conical prominence in the same place. Such differences are found in
skulls of Seals at different ages.
The skull of the young animal described and figured by Dr. Burmeister as
_Arctocephalus falklandicus_ (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 99, t. 9.
f. 1 & 2), is probably the young skull of this species. It agrees with
it in the elongated form of the skull, and in the large size and great
development of the processes of the orbits.
Dr. Murie regards _Otaria Philippii_ as founded on the skull of this
species (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).
Mr. Allen, on the contrary, includes _Otaria Hookeri_ as a synonym of
_Otaria jubata_. One could not have a better proof of the want that Mr.
Allen had of more materials when he undertook a revision of the family.
4. ARCTOCEPHALUS.
Arctocephalus, _F. Cuvier, Peters_.
The face of the skull elongate, forehead flat. The palate concave,
especially in front, with a thickened margin on each side near the teeth,
and then narrowed behind; the internal nasal opening elongate, longer
than broad, narrow and arched in front, the edge in a line with the
orbital process of the zygomatic arch, which is large and well developed.
Flap of toes moderate.
In the adult skull of _A. antarctica_, from the Cape, the fifth hinder
grinder has only very short rounded callous roots, which are slightly
divided into two lobes; and the hinder sixth upper grinder seems to
have a root of the same character. But not having any skulls of younger
animals, I am not able to describe what are the forms of the roots of
these two teeth in the younger state.
In the skulls of the older specimens (which are not adult, as they have
the sutures between the bones still distinct), the fifth and sixth upper
grinders have two distinct diverging roots.
* _The fifth and sixth upper grinders with two roots (?); the sixth upper
partly behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch._ Arctocephalus.
(Africa.)
1. Arctocephalus antarcticus. _The Cape Fur-Seal._
Phoca antarctica, _Thunb._, _Mém. Acad. Pétersb._ iii. p. 322;
_Fischer’s Synop._ p. 242.
Arctocephalus schisthyperoës, _Turner_, _Journ. Anat._ 1868, p.
113, f. ⸺.
Arctocephalus schistuperus, _Günther_, _Zool. Record_, 1868, p.
20.
Arctocephalus antarcticus, _Gray_; _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool._ ii. p. 45.
Arctocephalus Delalandii, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1859, t. 69
(skull); _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, vol. xviii. p. 235; _Cat. S.
& W._ p. 52.
Phoca ursina, _Cuvier_, _Oss. Foss._ t. 219. f. 5.
Arctocephalus ursinus, _F. Cuvier_, _Mém. Mus._ vol. xi. p.
205, t. 15, no. 1. _a_, _b_, _c_ (skull).
Otaria ursina, _Nilsson_.
Halarctus Delalandii, _Gill_, _l. c._ p. 7.
Otaria (Arctocephalus) pusilla, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp.
271 & 671.
_Junior._ Petit Phoque, _Buffon_, _H. N._ xiii. t. 53, = Phoca
pusilla, _Schreb._
Inhab. South Africa, Cape of Good Hope.
The two adult skulls in the British Museum differ greatly in the width
of the hinder nasal opening, in the form of the hinder lower lateral
processes of the occipital bone, in the form of the back of that bone,
and in the shape of the condyles.
The skull from the Cape of Good Hope, in the Museum of the University
of Edinburgh, was described and figured by Dr. Turner under the name
of _Arctocephalus schisthyperoës_, in the ‘Journal of Anatomy and
Physiology,’ vol. iii. p. 113. The name is changed to _A. schistuperus_
by Dr. Günther in the ‘Zoological Record’ for 1868, p. 20. It is
evidently the skull of a half-grown animal, with all its teeth developed,
but with the sutures of the bones still apparent. It agrees in every
respect with what I should expect to be the form and structure of the
skull of _Arctocephalus antarcticus_ from the Cape; but unfortunately the
two skulls of that Sea-bear from the Cape which are in the British Museum
are from old animals; and the specimen figured by Cuvier, Oss. Foss.
v. 220, t. 18. f. 5, is also adult. It differs from the skulls of the
two adult specimens of that species in the British Museum in the hinder
nasal aperture being much extended forwards and gradually tapering to a
point in front, which reaches to the transverse palato-maxillary suture.
This peculiarity in the form of the palate, which Prof. Turner has not
observed in any other seal-skull, seems to have induced him to regard it
as a distinct species. From the examination I have made of the skulls of
Seals in the Museum and other collections, I am induced to believe that
it is an individual abnormality of _Arctocephalus antarcticus_. I have
observed a similar malformation in the palates of two other species.
I was myself misled by their structure, before I met with the other
examples, to regard a skull with such a deformity as a distinct species.
At one time I thought that it might be a peculiarity of the young state,
as it had up to that time only been observed in skulls of half-grown
animals. It occurs in half-grown specimens of _Euotaria nigrescens_; but
the skulls of the very young specimens of this Seal in the British Museum
have the front edge of the hinder nasal opening truncated and slightly
arched in form, with well-developed square palatine bones united by a
central suture just as in the adult, but broader and straighter.
It was this observation that induced me to return to my original
opinion, that the skull which I had at first regarded as a young skull
of _Arctocephalus monteriensis_ (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859), and then as a
separate species under the name of _A. californianus_ (Cat. Seals and
Whales, p. 51), was only a monstrosity of _A. monteriensis_, as I did
in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1866, xviii. p. 232; and I am now induced
to believe that _Arctocephalus schisthyperoës_ is only an imperfectly
developed skull of _A. antarctica_.
Dr. J. R. Forster, in Cook’s voyage in 1775, observed the Eared Seal at
the Cape of Good Hope, and called it _Phoca ursina_. Believing it to be
the same as the Sea-bear he had observed in New Zealand, Thunberg, in
his list of Cape Mammalia in the third volume of the ‘Transactions of
the St. Petersburg Academy,’ iii. 322, notices this animal under the
name of _Phoca antarctica_ (see Fischer, Syn. Mam. p. 242). Dr. Peters
has applied the name of _Otaria pusilla_ to this species, believing it
to be the _Petit Phoque_ of Buffon, which has been named _Phoca pusilla_
by Schreber, and had before been named _Phoca parva_ by Boddaert. Buffon
says that it came either from India or the Levant; but it is not by its
description to be distinguished from a young specimen of almost any of
the species. It is as likely to have come from the Falkland Islands as
from the Cape, as the French had traffic with Les Iles Malouines, as they
call them.
M. de Buffon describes a small Eared Seal, which he calls a “second
Phoque” (vol. xiii. p. 341, t. 43, where it is named “le petit Phoque”),
which, he was assured, came from India, but very probably came from the
Levant; and he considers it adult, because it has all its teeth. It is
only one-fifth of the size of the Seal of the European seas (Hist. Nat.
xiii. p. 344). He further speaks of it as “le petit Phoque noir des Indes
et du Levant” (p. 345). It is evidently a young Eared Seal. The figure is
probably from the skin, with the bones of the toes and jaws, presented
to the cabinet by M. Mauduit (mentioned at p. 433. n. 1273), and said to
have come from India.
The specimen Buffon figured, then being in the Paris Museum, was thus
described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. p. 220):—“Cet animal a deux pieds
de long; ses oreilles sont grandes et pointues; son pelage est fourré,
luisant, d’un brun noir très-foncé et a sa nuance blanchâtre. Le ventre
seul est brun-jaunâtre.” The teeth show that it is young.
The figure and description of the _Petit Phoque_ of Buffon have had the
following names given to them:—
Little Seal, _by Pennant and Shaw_.
Phoca pusilla, _Schreber_, _Säugeth_. 314 (_Peters_).
Phoca parva, _Bodd. Elench._ 78.
Otaria pusilla, _Desm. N. Dict._
Otaria Peronii, _Desm. Mamm._
Fischer, in his ‘Synopsis,’ under _Phoca pusilla_, p. 252, gives the Cape
of Good Hope and Rotteness Island, on the coast of Australia, as the
habitat of the species.
The description of Cuvier much more nearly fits that of the young
_Arctocephalus nigrescens_ from the Falkland Islands. The fur of the
young Cape Seal is dark, black above and below; the hairs are slender,
and brown (not whitish) at the base; and the underside is not yellowish
brown; so that it is very doubtful if it is the young of the Cape Seal.
Dr. Peters, believing Buffon’s specimen to be a young Cape Seal, changed
the name of _Delalandii_ to _pusilla_.
In the Museum are three states in flat skins:—
1. Adult male, with slight mane, called in the sale-catalogue
“large-wig.” Fur whitish, with a few intermixed black hairs; under-fur
short, reddish. B.M.
2. Adult, without the mane, called in the sale-catalogue “middling.” Fur
reddish white, grizzled with scattered black hairs; underside of the body
darker, reddish brown; under-fur short, reddish. B.M.
3. Young, about 18 inches long, called in the sale-catalogue “black pup,”
from the Cape of Good Hope. Fur black, polished, soft, smooth, without
any grey tips, rather browner black beneath; under-fur brown, very
sparse; hairs slender, polished, black, with very slender brown bases.
B.M.
** _The fourth, fifth, and sixth upper grinders with two distinct
diverging roots: the fifth in a line with the hinder edge of the
zygomatic arch._ Euotaria. (America.)
2. Arctocephalus nigrescens. _The Southern Fur-Seal._
Arctocephalus nigrescens, _Gray_, _Zool. Erebus and Terror_, t.
⸺; _P. Z. S._ 1850, pp. 109, 360; _Cat. Seals and Whales_, p.
52; _Gerrard_, _Cat. of Bones_, p. 147.
Arctocephalus (Euotaria) nigrescens, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat.
Hist._ 1866, xviii. p. 236.
Arctocephalus falklandicus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 55;
_Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 45.
Otaria (Arctocephalus?) falklandica, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866,
p. 273.
Otaria (Arctophoca) falklandica, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ pp. 371 &
671.
Otaria falklandica, _Sclater_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 528;
_Abbott_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 192.
Otaria jubata (young), _B.M._
Euotaria nigrescens, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1868, p.
104.
Otaria nigrescens, _Murie_, _P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 106.
Inhab. Falkland Islands, Volunteer Rock (_Capt. Abbott_).
The two skulls of this species in the British Museum agree in most
particulars; but they differ considerably in the form of the hinder
nostrils. The larger one is without its upper teeth, but the forms of the
roots are well exhibited by their sockets; the front edge of the hinder
nasal opening is produced rather further forward, and is acutely angular.
The other skull, which is rather smaller and has the teeth in good
condition, has the hinder nasal opening with a slightly arched, nearly
truncated, front edge.
Dr. Peters refers _Phoca falklandica_ (Shaw, Zool. i. p. 256) and _Otaria
falklandica_. (Hamilton, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1839, p. 81, t. 4; Jardine,
Nat. Lib. vi. p. 271, t. 25) to this species. But as neither Dr. Shaw nor
Dr. Hamilton describes the number or position of the teeth, it is not
possible to determine if this is the _Fur-Seal_ of the sealers, collected
at the Falkland Islands, more especially as the fact of the skull coming
from the Falkland Islands is not well ascertained. See the other synonyma
which have been established on the sealers’ descriptions and figures or
the skins collected for the furriers at the Falkland Islands (Gray, Cat.
Seals and Whales, pp. 55, 56). Dr. Hamilton, who prides himself on his
figure, represents the hind legs as extended behind: but they look very
awkward in that position, the stuffer having evidently had a difficulty
in extending them.
The hair of _A. nigrescens_ is considerably longer than that of _A.
cinereus_, but not so harsh, the fur of the half-grown _A. nigrescens_
being longer, sparse, flat, rather curled at the end, giving it a
crispness to the feel; while the hairs of the very young specimens are
abundant, nearly of equal length, forming an even coat that is soft and
smooth to the touch.
Capt. Abbott’s young specimen in the British Museum chiefly differs from
the adult specimen in the same collection in the hairs being longer, more
erect, and with minute white tips, and in the face, throat, and chest
being rufous brown; but this reddish colour is common to the young of
several Sea-bears.
The skulls from Desolation Island, on the south-west coast of Patagonia,
presented to the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh by the
late Professor Goodsir, evidently belong to _Euotaria nigrescens_, the
usual Fur-Seal of the Falkland Islands and other parts of the coast of
South-west America. Two of the skulls are from adult animals, are without
the lower jaws, and have only a few worn and broken teeth, having been
rolled on the beach.
The other skull is of a young animal, exactly similar to the skull
of a young _Euotaria nigrescens_, n. 1013_e_, in the British-Museum
collection. The front edge of the hinder nostrils is as arched as in that
specimen; the teeth are rather more developed than in our skull; they
have a well-marked central lobe and a distinct small acute tubercle on
the front edge of the cingulum.
The two adult skulls are very like the adult skull of _E. nigrescens_,
1013_d_, in the British Museum; but the opening of the internal nostrils
is narrower, and their front edge in one is not nearly so angular, and
in the other it is rather more arched than in either of the other two
skulls, showing that the size of the posterior nasal aperture and the
form of its front edge vary in different specimens of this species.
The comparison of the young skull with the more adult one shows that the
grinders change their position considerably as regards the front edge of
the hinder nasal opening. In the young skull of _Euotaria nigrescens_
the hinder end of the tooth-line is very near (not a quarter of an inch
from) a line level with the front edge of the internal nasal opening,
and the hinder part of the palate in front of the aperture is nearly as
broad as the middle of the palate: in the adult skull the hinder end of
the tooth-line is a full inch from the front edge of the internal nasal
opening, the hinder part of the palate is contracted toward the internal
nostril, and the internal nasal opening is lengthened and narrowed; but
the real position of the teeth, as compared with the front part of the
zygomatic arch, is little altered, though the form of the palate gives
them the appearance of being more changed than they really are.
These skulls are interesting as showing that _Euotaria nigrescens_, like
_Otaria leonina_ and _Morunga elephantina_, is, or was, common to the
Falkland Islands and the west coast of South America.
The chief character by which the adult skull of _Euotaria nigrescens_
can be distinguished from the adult skull of _Arctocephalus antarcticus_
is, that the hinder or fifth upper grinder and the penultimate or fourth
are placed rather in front of the hinder edge of the front part of the
zygomatic arch; but the position of the teeth is most distinctive in the
skull of the young animal, and loses much of its importance in comparing
old skulls together, unless the skulls and teeth are very accurately
compared; and even then the distinction is more imaginary than real.
I cannot understand Capt. Abbott’s account of this species. He says
that “the full-grown Seal is about the size of the common English Seal.
The largest skin I have ever seen I do not think measured more than 4
feet in length, perhaps hardly so much. The hair differs in colour,
being sometimes grey, and at other times of a brownish tint; that of
the young is of a darker brown colour.” All this agrees better with
the true _O. falklandica_; but yet he says the skin of his half-grown
specimen is now in the British Museum, and that skin is undoubtedly
_Euotaria nigrescens_. Has Mr. Abbott confounded the two species in his
mind? Or did he forget the animal? for he informed me that there were no
Sea-elephants now living on the island. (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 190.)
“The bones of the pectoral limb of the Fur-Seal of commerce differ from
those of the Sea-lion.”—_Murie_, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 109.
See Lecomte’s account of the habits of these animals, P. Z. S. 1869, p.
106.
The British Museum contains the skin and skull of a large blackish
Eared Seal, nearly 6 feet long, that was purchased of a dealer as “a
Fur-Seal from the Falkland Islands;” but, as the dealers seem always to
give that as the habitat for all seal-skins with a distinct under-coat
that come into their possession, I have quoted the habitat with doubt.
When occupied in describing the Seals of the southern hemisphere for
the ‘Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,’ I named the Seal _Arctocephalus
nigrescens_, and had the skull figured under that name; but the plate has
not yet been published, though copies of it have been given to Dr. Peters
and other zoologists. In the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’
for 1859, pp. 109, 360, and in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales,’ I
described the skull of this species. There is also in the Museum a skull
of a younger animal of the same species.
Capt. Abbott, in 1866, sent to the British Museum a large and a small
Seal from the Falkland Islands. The large one was examined and determined
to be the southern Sea-lion (_Otaria jubata_). The small one, nearly 3
feet long, was very similar in external appearance; and as the teeth,
which could be seen without extracting the skull, showed that it was a
young animal, it was regarded as the young of the Sea-lion, and it was
stuffed without extracting the skull, and labelled as such. This specimen
has been examined by several zoologists, among the rest by Dr. Peters,
when engaged with his paper on Eared Seals, and has passed unchallenged
until this time, thus showing how difficult it is to distinguish these
animals by their external characters alone.
Capt. Abbott, who is now residing in England, informed me that the
smaller specimen was the Fur-Seal of the Falkland Islands, that it grows
to about half as long again as the specimen sent, and that the old males
are grey from the tips of the hairs. I have therefore had the skull
extracted from the specimen; and there is no doubt that it is quite
distinct from the Sea-lion (_Otaria jubata_); and, on more careful
examination of the skin, I have little doubt, from the colour and the
character of the fur, that it is a young specimen of the Seal that I
described as _Arctocephalus nigrescens_. It is interesting as confirming
the accuracy of the habitat that I received with that specimen, and which
until this time I considered doubtful, as Pennant and others describe the
Falkland Island Fur-Seal as grey, and white beneath.
Dr. Peters, on the authority of this habitat (which I have always quoted
with doubt), has given the name of _Arctophoca falklandica_ to the animal
and skull on which I had established my _Arctocephalus nigrescens_.
In the British Museum there is the skin of a very young Seal, which was
presented by Sir John Richardson as the Falkland Island Fur-Seal, with
the observation appended that the adult is 5 feet long, and its skin is
worth fifteen dollars. It is without its skull. The fur of this young
Seal is dark brown, reddish beneath, and very like that of the young
specimen sent by Capt. Abbott; but the hairs are smoother, and the
white tips to them are longer and more marked, giving the animal a more
grizzled appearance.
There is another young Eared Seal, very like the former, which was
received with General Hardwicke’s Collection (who, no doubt, purchased
it of a dealer), said to have come from the Cape of Good Hope. I suspect
this habitat must be erroneous; for it is very unlike what I recollect
of the young Cape Eared Seals, which are called “Black Dogs,” on account
of the blackness of their colour. Unfortunately we have no specimen of
the latter in the Museum collection. General Hardwicke’s specimen only
differs from Sir John Richardson’s in being less punctulated with white;
fewer hairs have a white tip, and the tip is shorter.
Both these young specimens differ from the half-grown one obtained from
Capt. Abbott, in the fur being softer and smooth to the touch; and Capt.
Abbott’s specimen differs from the adult in the length and greater
crispness of its fur, the fur of the old one being harsh and hard and
closer pressed.
In the first essay, Dr. Peters places _Phoca falklandica_, Shaw, and
_Otaria nigrescens_ together, with doubt, observing that one was known
from the skin, and the other by the skull, overlooking the fact that
the name _nigrescens_ implied that I had seen the colour of the fur,
which was not that given by Shaw to his animal; in his second essay, Dr.
Shaw’s, Dr. Burmeister’s, and my animal are all classed together without
any doubt.
The skull of Capt. Abbott’s Fur-Seal from the Falkland Islands shows that
it was a very young animal, which had only developed its first grinders,
the permanent series being developed below them. The tentorium is bony
and well developed. The teeth are the same in position and number as
they are in the adult skull; and the upper ones, as far as developed,
are small and conical, except the fifth upper grinder, which is largest,
triangular, with a single subconical lobe on the base of the hinder
edge of the cone. The lower canines are small, scarcely larger than the
cutting-teeth, which are nearly uniform in size. The lower grinders are
of a much larger size than the upper ones in the adult skull, as if they
belonged to the permanent series: they are of the same form as the teeth
in adult skulls; but the central cone is higher and more acute, and the
anterior and posterior lobes at the base of the cone are more developed
and acute, the lobes of the last or fifth grinder being larger and rather
on the inner surface of the tooth.
The skull of Capt. Abbott’s animal is evidently not the same as the
skull of a young Eared Seal described and figured by Dr. Burmeister as
the skull of _Arctocephalus falklandicus_ from the mouth of the Rio de
la Plata, in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xviii. p. 99, t. 9,
which, from the appearance of the grinders, I suspect is the young skull
of _Phocarctos Hookeri_, the Hair-Seal of the Falkland Islands. There is
a considerable difference in the proportions of the skull sent by Capt.
Abbott from those of the one figured by Dr. Burmeister. In Capt. Abbott’s
specimen the brain-case, from the back edge of the orbit to the occiput,
is as long as the length of the face, from the same edge of the orbit to
the end of the nose. In Dr. Burmeister’s figure, the face from the same
point is much longer than the brain-case.
*** _Fourth, fifth, and sixth upper grinders with two diverging roots;
the fifth upper grinder entirely behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic
arch. The palate narrow._ Gypsophoca. (Australia.)
3. Arctocephalus cinereus. _Australian Fur-Seal._
Otaria (Arctocephalus) cinerea, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp.
272 & 671.
Arctocephalus nigrescens, _b_ & _c_, _Gerrard_, _Cat. Bones
B.M._ p. 147.
Black Seal, Otaria, _Cat. Sidney Museum_, ii. p. 36.
Arctocephalus cinereus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals and Whales_, p. 56;
_Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, xviii. p. 236; _Allen_, _Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 45.
Inhab. Australia (_John Macgillivray_).
Black, greyer beneath; under-fur abundant, reddish brown.
There are the stuffed skin, with its skull, and the bones of the face of
another young specimen of this Seal in the British Museum, collected in
the Australasian Sea by Mr. John Macgillivray.
According to the observations of Dr. Peters, founded on the examination
of the typical skulls, _Otaria ursina_ of Nilsson and _Otaria Lemarii_
of J. Müller (Arch. f. Naturg. 1841, p. 334) include the _Arctocephalus
antarcticus_ from South Africa and _A. cinereus_ of Australia.
_Otaria Stelleri_ of Schlegel (Fauna Japonica, t. 22. f. 55) includes
both the Australian Eared Seals, viz. _Arctocephalus cinereus_ and
_Neophoca lobata_; and it is quite distinct from the _Otaria Stelleri_ of
Lesson and T. Müller, which is a combination of the Sea-bear and Sea-lion
of Steller (that is to say, _Eumetopias Stelleri_ and _Callorhinus
ursinus_).
The males of these animals are described as twice as long and broad
(that is, four times as large) as the females. This may explain the
difference in size of the skulls from the same localities.
The fur changes its colour as the animal grows, the young being generally
black; and the adult males and females also differ considerably in the
colour of the fur.
The skulls of the following species are not known:—
4. Arctocephalus Forsteri.
Grinders 6/5·6/5, conical.
Arctocephalus Fosteri, _Fischer_; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat.
Hist._ 1868, i. p. 219.
Phoca ursina, _J. R. Forster_.
Inhab. Cloudy Bay, New Zealand.
This animal is only known from Dr. Forster’s description and figure.
Mr. Allen observes, “I can see no evidence of the New-Zealand Fur-Seal
(of Forster) being specifically distinct from the Fur-Seal of Australia,
_A. cinereus_ (auct.).”—_Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 15.
At the same time Mr. Allen ventures to remark, “perhaps the _A. cinereus_
and the _A. antarcticus_ are to be referred to the _A. falklandicus_, in
which case the habitat of this species is the southern seas generally”
(Bull. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45): but he does not seem to have had specimens
of any of the three species; otherwise I do not think he would have
ventured upon the observation.
Unfortunately, having no skull or other parts of the Lion Seal of the
Auckland Islands (the most southern of the New-Zealand group), we are
not able to determine whether it is the same species as the Sea-lion
of the southern end of the American continent (_Otaria jubata_), or
whether it is the Sea-lion of the southern end of the African continent
(_Arctocephalus antarcticus_), or the Sea-lion of the Northern Australian
Seas (_Neophoca lobata_).
5. Arctocephalus falklandicus.
Fur very soft, elastic; hairs very short, exceedingly close, slender at
the base, thicker above, with close reddish under-fur nearly as long
as the hair; the upper surface pale, nearly uniform grey, minutely
punctulated with white; hairs brown, upper half black, with minute white
tips. The nose, cheeks, temples, throat, chest, sides, and underside of
the body yellowish white.
Falkland Seal, _Penn._ _Quad._ ii.
Phoca falklandica, _Shaw_, _Gen. Zool._ i. p. 256 (from
_Pennant_).
Otaria falklandica, _Desm. Mamm._ p. 252 (from _Pennant_; not
_Peters_ or _Burmeister_).
Otaria Shawii, _Lesson_, _Dict. Class. d’H. N._ xiii. p. 424
(from _Pennant_).
Arctocephalus falklandicus, _Gray_, _Cat. Mam. in Brit. Mus.,
Seals_, p. 42; _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1868, i. p. 103.
Fur-Seal of Commerce (Otaria falklandica), _Hamilton_, _Ann. &
Mag. N. H._ 1838, ii. p. 81, t. 41; _Jardine_, _Nat. Lib._ vi.
p. 271, t. 25 (not _Peters_).
Otarie de Péron, _Blainville_, _Journ. de Physique_, xci. p.
298; _Cuvier_, _Oss. Fossiles_, v. p. 220.
Otaria Houvillii, _Lesson_, _Dict. Class. d’H. N._ xiii. 425.
Phoca Houvillii, _Fischer_, _Syn. Mam._ p. 154. These three
names are all from the same animal.
Inhab. Falkland Islands (_Abbott_; _B.M._); New Georgia.
This is a most distinct species, and easily known from all the other
Fur-Seals in the British Museum by the evenness, shortness, closeness,
and elasticity of the fur, and the length of the under-fur. The fur is
soft enough to wear as a rich fur without the removal of the longer
hairs, which are always removed in the other Fur-Seals. Unfortunately the
specimen is without any skull; and therefore I cannot give a description
of the teeth, or refer it to any of the restricted genera of _Otariadæ_.
Mr. R. Hamilton, in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for 1838, ii. p. 81,
t. 4, gives the history of the Fur-Seals of commerce and the method of
catching them; and he deposited two specimens in the Museum of Edinburgh,
which had been procured by Capt. Weddel. Mr. Abbott having informed me
that what I had described under the name of _Arctocephalus falklandicus_
is not now found in the Falkland Islands, and Mr. Bartlett having shown
me an imperfect skin of the same species, which he had obtained from
a fur-monger, who informed him that such fur-skins were only received
from the Arctic part of the Pacific Ocean, I was induced to request Mr.
Archer, director of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, to allow me
to examine the Seals described by Mr. Hamilton, which, on examination,
proved to be my _Arctocephalus falklandicus_, only differing from the
Museum specimen in the fur being considerably darker and harsher; and,
from Capt. Weddel’s account as given in the ‘Annals,’ these specimens
came from South Georgia or South Shetland. These Seals, which were
brought from the Antarctic Ocean, may formerly have inhabited the
Falkland Islands, and, like the Sea-lion found there by Pernetty, have
been destroyed or driven away. _Arctocephalus Hookeri_ is said to be now
found in the Antarctic Ocean and the Falkland Islands. In that case it
may be the Falkland-Island Seal of Pennant.
The _A. falklandicus_ is very like the Fur-Seal from Australia (_H.
cinereus_) in the length of the under-fur as compared with the length of
the hairs, and also in the colour of the under-fur and hair; but the fur
is much softer, and its general colour is much darker, both above and
below.
Pennant describes the “Falkland-Island Seal” from a specimen 4 feet
long, in the museum of the Royal Society, thus:—“Hair short, cinereous,
tipped with dirty white;” “grinders conoid, with a small process on one
side near the base.” It is to this description that Dr. Shaw applied the
name of _Phoca falklandica_ (Gen. Zool. i. p. 256). This agrees with
a specimen in the Museum in all particulars. It certainly is not the
dark blackish-brown Seal which I have described as the _Arctocephalus
nigrescens_, and which Dr. Peters calls _O. falklandica_.
I sent a piece of the fur of this Seal to Dr. Peters to be compared
with the fur of _O. Philippii_. He observes, “They appear to be quite
different; the wool of _O. falklandica_ is fair and has more similarity
in colour to the young of _O. cinerea_. The wool of _O. Philippii_ is
entirely ferruginous red, and the longer hairs are stiffer and have a
much shorter grey tip than in _O. falklandica_.”
6. Arctocephalus? nivosus. _Cape Hair-Seal._
B.M.
Fur very short, close-pressed, black, varied with close, small, often
confluent, white spots; underside of the neck with a few scattered white
hairs; belly red-brown (nearly bay); hairs short, thick, of one colour
to the base; under-fur none, except a very few hairs on the crown of the
head. Skull unknown.
Arctocephalus? nivosus, _Ann. & Mag, N. H._ 1868, i. p. 219.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. B.M.
Length of skin nearly 8 feet; but stretched and flattened.
Dr. Murie (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108) says that this is only a variety,
seasonal, sexual, or of a different age from the specimens hitherto
obtained.
Mr. Allen adopts this view, never having seen the specimen, but changes
the phrase into “a previously known species” (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii.
p. 18); but neither of them mentions the species to which he refers it.
But surely Mr. Allen does not mean that it is only a variety of the skins
which were received with it from the Cape of Good Hope; for, if that were
the case, the species would belong to one of his subfamilies, and the
variety to the other.
In the form and length of the hair it is very different from
_Arctocephalus antarcticus_; and it is almost destitute of under-fur,
except on the crown of the head.
Tribe IV. _ZALOPHINA._
Grinders 5/5·5/5, large, thick, in a close continuous series; the fifth
upper in front of the back edge of the zygomatic arch.
In the younger skull the grinders are placed rather further back, the
hinder part of the upper grinder being behind the back edge of the
zygomatic arch. The grinders all single-rooted, as the last or sixth
grinder in each jaw, which is generally two-rooted, is absent. The face
of the skull is considerably produced, and the forehead is flat.
Zalophina, _Gray_, _Ann, & Mag. N. H._ 1869, iv. p. 269.
5. ZALOPHUS.
Palate concave, narrow in front, wider at the line of the last grinder,
and then contracted behind. The hinder nares narrow, elongate, twice
as long as wide, acutely arched in front, front edge in a line with the
front edge of the orbital process of the malar bone. Under-fur sparse.
Zalophus, _Gill_; _Peters_; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866,
xviii. p. 231.
Arctocephalus § _b_**, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 55.
1. Zalophus Gilliespii. _Californian Hair-Seal._
Otaria Gilliespii, _Macbain_.
Arctocephalus Gilliespii, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1859, t. 70
(skull); _Cat. S. & W._ p. 55.
Zalophus Gilliespii, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, xviii.
p. 231; _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. pp. 33 & 44;
_Gill_, _Proc. Essex Inst._ 1866, v. p. 13.
Arctocephalus (Zalophus) Gilliespii, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866,
pp. 275 & 671.
? Otaria Stelleri, _Schlegel_, fide _Peters_.
Inhab. North Pacific, South California (Brit. Mus.); Japan (fide
_Peters_).
I have not seen any skull or specimens from Japan; so that I am not quite
sure that the specimens from the coast of Asia are the same as those from
the west coast of America.
6. NEOPHOCA.
Palate concave, broad, as broad before as at the hinder part of the
tooth-line, then rather suddenly contracted. The hinder nares broad,
rather longer than broad, with the front edge broadly arched, which is
further back than the front edge of the orbital process of the zygomatic
arch, or malar bone, which is thick and flat. Fur with very little
under-fur. Flap of toes moderate.
Arctocephalus § _b_***, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 57.
Otaria, § Zalophus (part.), _Peters_.
Neophoca, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, xviii. p. 231.
1. Neophoca lobata. _Australian Hair-Seal._
Arctocephalus lobatus, _Gray_, _Spic. Zool._ 1828, t. 4. f. 2
(teeth); _Cat. S. & W._ p. 50; _Zool. E. & T. Mamm._ t. 16, 17.
f. 3-5 (skull); _Gould_, _Mamm. Austr._ iii. t. 49; _Peters_.
Otaria australis, _Quoy & Gaim._ _Astrol._ t. 14, 15. f. 3, 4
(skull).
Arctocephalus australis, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 57.
Neophoca lobatus, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1866, xviii. p.
231.
Otaria (Zalophus) lobata, _Peters_, _Monatsbr._ 1866 pp. 276 &
671.
Zalophus lobatus, _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ ii. p. 44.
The upper grinders all single-rooted, the root of the last two (the
fourth and fifth) being rather compressed, with an obscure central
longitudinal groove on the inner side; the first two grinders of the
lower jaw with oblong, the last three with compressed roots, and the
fourth and fifth with a slight longitudinal groove on the side.
In the younger skulls the roots of the grinders are more oblong, less
compressed, and do not show the lateral grooves, as far as the teeth can
be seen without being drawn from the sockets. In the front part of the
younger skull, which was received from Mr. Gould, the teeth are placed
rather further back than in the adult skull from North Australia received
from Capt. Grey, the hinder part of the fifth tooth being behind the back
edge of the zygomatic arch.
Mr. Allen thinks that this is undoubtedly the _O. cinerea_ of Desmarest,
from Péron; but it is not the _O. cinerea_ of Quoy & Gaimard (see obs. on
Péron’s Seal in the Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 57).
Tribe V. _EUMETOPIINA._
Grinders 5/5·5/5, more or less far apart; the hinder upper behind the
hinder edge of the zygomatic arch, and separated from the other grinders
by a concave space.
Eumetopiina, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1869, iv. p. 269.
7. EUMETOPIAS.
Eumetopias, _Gill_, _Peters_.
Arctocephalus § _a_***, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 51.
Fur without any under-fur. Palate flattish or rather concave in front, as
wide in front as at the end of the tooth-line, and then slightly narrowed
behind. Posterior nares oblong, elongate, broadly truncated in front, the
front edge being behind the line of the orbital process of the zygomatic
arch. The grinders have large oblong roots; the second, third, and fourth
upper ones have a subcentral longitudinal groove on the outer side, and
a less marked one on their inner surface; the inner side of all but the
first of the lower ones are similarly grooved; the fifth upper grinder
(or, more properly, the sixth in the normal series) has two distinct
roots. The lower jaw much more elongate than that of _Otaria jubata_, the
hinder angle more oblique, and the lower margin long and straight. Flap
of toes short.
The skull of the young animal, which was sent by Mr. A. S. Taylor to
Mr. Gurney from California, and which I first described, with doubt, as
_Arctocephalus monteriensis_, junior (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 357), and which
in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales’ I named _A. californianus_ (see p.
51), agrees in every respect in its dentition with the large skull which
we received from California, and which I described and figured as _A.
monteriensis_ (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 358, t. 72); but it differs greatly in
the form of the hinder nares, which are extended much more forwards, so
that the front end, which is very narrow and acute, is much in front of
the prominence of the orbit of the zygomatic arch, being, in fact, about
in a line with the middle of the lower edge of the orbital cavity.
This skull is evidently that of a very young animal; for the bones are
separate; but it has the same number and disposition of the teeth as the
large skull. There is the same wide space between the fourth and fifth
upper grinders; but there is at the back edge of the fourth grinder, on
the right side of the skull, a small pit, from which, no doubt, a small
rudimentary tooth has fallen out; and there is a much wider but shallow
pit on the other side, which may have been produced by the loss of a
rudimentary tooth; the last upper grinder has a large swollen undivided
root. If this is a young skull of _Eumetopias monteriensis_, that species
is curious for having the teeth in the old and young skulls in the same
situation as regards the bones of the face.
The adult skull and the young one were from the same locality, and, I
believe, collected by the same person; and this being the case, I am
inclined to regard them as the same, only showing a curious peculiarity
in the growth of the animal, and also showing that the form and position
of the hinder nostril probably varies as the animal increases in age.
Mr. Gill considers Steller’s Sea-bear (_Callorhinus ursinus_) to be the
type of M. F. Cuvier’s genus _Arctocephalus_, and therefore abolishes
_Callorhinus_ and gives the new name of _Halarctus_ to the true
_Arctocephali_—thus unnecessarily adding to the confusion of the generic
names of these animals. He fell into this mistake by not observing that
_Phoca ursina_, and even _Otaria ursina_, had been applied to several
species from very different localities, that F. Cuvier established his
genus on the skull of _P. ursina_ of Forster, from the Cape, which he (M.
Cuvier) had named _Phoca Delalandii_, and that F. Cuvier does not figure
a skull of the Sea-bear of Steller: indeed the French collection did not
at that time, nor does it even now, possess one; and I feel assured that,
if it had, F. Cuvier would, according to his custom, have established for
it a genus distinct from _Arctocephalus_, the skulls of the two genera
being of such distinct forms.
1. Eumetopias Stelleri. _Northern Sea-lion or Fur-Seal._
Arctocephalus monteriensis, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & W._ p. 49;
_P. Z. S._ 1859, t. 72 (skull).
Eumetopias californiana, _Gill_, _Proc. Essex Inst._ 1866, v.
p. 13.
Otaria Stelleri, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 60; _Peters_;
_Müller_?
Otaria (Eumetopias) Stelleri, _Peters_, _Monatsb._ 1866, pp.
274 & 671.
Eumetopias Stelleri, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag._ 1866, vol. xviii.
p. 233; _Allen_, _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ vol. ii. pp. 44, 46,
tab. 1 & 2 (skull &c.).
Leo marinus, _Steller_.
Phoca jubata, _Pander & D’Alton_, t. 3. f. _d_, _e_, _f_
(skull, not good).
_Junior._ Arctocephalus californianus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._
p. 51 (skull only).
Inhab. California; Behring’s Straits.
The skin of the young specimen which Mr. Gurney gave to the Museum along
with what was said by Mr. Taylor to be its skull (see ‘Cat. Seals &
Whales,’ p. 51) was the only skin then known to exist in museums; and
consequently I described the fur of the genus from this skin as having
abundant under-fur (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 358). Dr. Peters having
discovered Pander and D’Alton’s animal and skull in the Paris Museum, he
observed that the adult animal was entirely without under-fur—a fact
which has been confirmed by Mr. Allen, who suggests that the skin of
the young received from Monterey is the skin of the young _Eumetopias
Stelleri_, which, I think, is very probable. But this only shows the
difficulties that must occur in the study of animals from the very
imperfect materials which until lately existed.
The Sea-lion of Steller has been one of the zoological paradoxes.
Professor Nilsson, like most preceding authors, regarded it as a variety
of the _Otaria jubata_; and therefore I supposed it might be a second
species of the restricted genus _Otaria_. Dr. Peters has solved the
enigma by uniting it and the Seal which I described from California,
observing that the skull in the Berlin Museum, figured by D’Alton under
the name of “Steller’s Sea-lion” (_Phoca jubata_), was received from
Kamtschatka, and a second skull of an old male in the Berlin Museum was
received from Mr. Brandt as coming from Behring’s Straits.
The figure of Pander and D’Alton is so imperfect that it would have been
impossible to determine the species it represents without the examination
of the original skull; and then one sees that it may have been intended
for the species to which it is referred. The same observation is
applicable to the figure of the skull of Steller’s Sea-bear.
It is to be regretted that these skulls escaped the researches of
Professor Nilsson, who visited most museums in Europe to examine the
typical specimens.
The specimen of _Callorhinus ursinus_ now in the Museum was received from
St. Petersburg as _Otaria leonina_, or _Leo marinus_ of Steller, from
Behring’s Straits; so they evidently confound two species under that name.
8. ARCTOPHOCA.
Arctophoca, _Peters_.
Dr. Peters described this subgenus from a specimen sent from Chili by Dr.
Philippi. It chiefly differs from _Zalophus_ in the palate being much
narrower, but rather wider behind, and the teeth rather far apart. I have
not seen any skull agreeing with these characters.
“With abundant under-fur.”
According to figures, the form of the skull and the large size of the
orbit are very similar to those of _Phocarctos Hookeri_, but the number
and form of the teeth are different.
In the ‘Monatsbericht,’ May 1866, p. 276, t. 2. _a_, _b_, _c_, Dr. Peters
described and figured with considerable detail a skull of a Sea-bear
(sent to the Berlin Museum by Dr. Philippi, who obtained it at Juan
Fernandez Island) under the name of _Otaria Philippi_, forming for it
a subgenus which he calls _Arctophoca_. In his revision of that paper,
published in the same work for November 1866, p. 671, he places it as a
synonym or subspecies of what he calls _Otaria falklandica_, which is my
_Arctocephalus nigrescens_, and not the _Otaria falklandica_ of Shaw
nor the _O. falklandica_ of Burmeister as Dr. Peters supposes, as I have
shown above. In this paper he removes _Otaria falklandica_ (that is,
_nigrescens_) from the subgenus _Phocarctos_, to which he referred it in
his first paper, and places it in his subgenus _Arctophoca_.
1. Arctophoca Philippii. _Chilian Fur-Seal._
Otaria (Arctophoca) Philippii, _Peters_, _Monatsbericht_, May
1866, p. 276, t. 2 (skull), September 1866, p. 671.
Otaria Hookeri, var., _Murie_, _P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 108!
Inhab. Juan Fernandez Island (_Philippi_; in Mus. Berl.).
Above black-grey, more greyish yellow on the head and neck, brownish
black _beneath_; the base of the limbs of a rusty brown, shining; lips
and lower jaw principally rusty brown; hair of beard in six rows, partly
black, partly quite white, partly black with white base. The outbristling
(prominent bristly) pointed hairs are rusty brown at the base, black
at the end, on the back mostly with very short rusty-yellowish points,
and on the head and neck with somewhat longer ones. On the sides of the
belly the ends of the coarser pointed hairs are either uniformly brownish
black, or are very short rusty-red ones. The thick under-hair is rusty
red. The hairs on the upper surface of the neck are 22 millims. long;
those on the middle of the back 18, and those on the middle of the belly
11 to 12. The dense short hair on the back of the hand extends only to
the _middle_ of the same, not extending to the ends of the fingers, the
ends of which are furnished with very small nails. In like manner, the
very similar hair on the back of the foot does not extend to the last
“Phalangen?” of the middle toe. The nail of the large outer toe is small,
flat, and cut off short outside; that of the fifth inner toe is a little
larger and cut off abruptly on the inner side. The very developed long
nails of the three centre toes are of the form of keeled tegulæ, and
remote along their whole length by the emarginations of the skin of the
foot. The skin-flaps of the foot are equally long; and usually those of
the centre toes are much smaller than the side ones, of which the outside
one (the great toe) is the broadest. The scrotum, under the anus, is
bare.—_Peters_, _l. c._ p. 277.
I have not seen this skull; but I believe the alteration Dr. Peters made
in his second paper is a mistake. The figure of the skull of his _Otaria
Philippii_ has no resemblance to the skull of my _O. nigrescens_. It
is more nearly allied to the skull of _O. Stelleri_ from California,
agreeing with it in having a vacant space with a pit in the bone between
the fourth and fifth upper grinders on each side, looking as if a
grinder had fallen out and the cavity had been filled up. The subgenus
_Arctophoca_ of Dr. Peters’s first essay, not as modified in his second
one to contain _O. falklandica_ (_nigrescens_), chiefly differs from
Gill’s genus _Eumetopias_ (which was formed on my description and figure
of the skull of _O. Stelleri_ or _californiana_) in the fifth upper
grinder not being so far back, but in a line with the back edge of the
orbital process of the zygomatic arch instead of far behind it, as it is
in _Eumetopias_.
Dr. Murie, most curiously, considers the skull described by Dr. Peters to
be the same as I have described as _O. Hookeri_ (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).
Dr. Burmeister considered it _O. falklandica_ of Shaw; and Mr. Allen
(Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. ii. p. 13) agrees in this opinion; but
further on (p. 15) he observes that both Dr. Gray and Dr. Murie have
“evidently overlooked the fact that Dr. Peters expressly states that _O.
Philippii_ has a _thick under-fur_, whereas both the _O. Stelleri_ and
the _O. Hookeri_ are true _hair_ Seals.” But, in fact, this statement is
a mistake as regards me; I never said that _O. Philippii_ was the same
as _O. Stelleri_, but only that its skull was most nearly allied to it,
which I still maintain.
* * * * *
_Antarctic Ocean and South Seas._
Otaria jubata. _S. America and islands._
Phocarctos Hookeri.
Arctocephalus nigrescens.
A. falklandicus.
Arctophoca Philippii. _S. America._
Arctocephalus antarcticus. _Africa._
A. nivosus. _Africa._
A. cinereus. _Australia._
A. Forsteri. _New Zealand._
Neophoca lobata. _Australia._
_North Pacific and West Arctic Ocean._
Callorhinus ursinus. _West coast of America._
Zalophus Gilliespii. _West coast of America and Japan?_
Eumetopias Stelleri. _West coast of America._
Order CETACEA.
Teeth all similar, conical, sometimes not developed. Palate often
furnished with transverse plates of baleen or whalebone. Body
fish-shaped, smooth, bald. Limbs clawless; fore limbs fin-shaped; hinder
united, forming a forked horizontal fin. Nostrils enlarged into blowers.
Teats two, inguinal.—Carnivorous.
They may be divided by the form of the pectoral fin, thus:—
I. _Pectoral fin broad, truncated or rounded at the end; fingers
5, shorter than the arm-bones, subequal, gradually shorter in the
series._—BALÆNIDÆ, CATODONTIDÆ, SUSOIDEA, ORCADÆ, BELUGIDÆ, PONTOPORIADÆ,
HYPEROODONTIDÆ, EPIODONTIDÆ, ZIPHIIDÆ.
II. _Pectoral fin elongate, obliquely truncated on the inner side;
fingers 5, elongate, longer than the arm-bones, the second and third much
longer than the rest._—INIIDÆ, DELPHINIDÆ, GRAMPIDÆ, GLOBIOCEPHALIDÆ.
III. _Pectoral fin elongate, truncated on the inner side; fingers 4,
subequal, more or less elongate._—AGAPHÆLIDÆ, MEGAPTERIDÆ, PHYSALIDÆ,
BALÆNOPTERIDÆ.
By the adhesion or non-adhesion of the cervical vertebræ, thus:—
1. Atlas distinct, the other six cervical vertebræ united by their bodies
and spines into a single mass.
_Mysticetes._
_Denticetes._
CATODONTIDÆ.
GRAMPIDÆ.
2. Atlas and cervical vertebræ all united into one solid mass.
BALÆNIDÆ.
BALÆNOPTERIDÆ.
PHYSETERIDÆ.
HYPEROODONTIDÆ
(?) ZIPHIIDÆ.
3. The atlas, axis, and generally one or two other vertebræ united; the
hinder ones sometimes free.
MEGAPTERIDÆ.
EPIODONTIDÆ.
? ZIPHIIDÆ.
DELPHINIDÆ.
GLOBIOCEPHALIDÆ.
ORCADÆ.
4. Atlas and the other cervical vertebræ entirely free.
PHYSALIDÆ.
AGAPHELIDÆ.
PLATANISTIDÆ.
INIIDÆ.
PONTOPORIADÆ.
BELUGIDÆ.
Section I. MYSTICETE (_cf._ p. 57).
Mysticete, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales B. M._ pp. 61, 68;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 1.
Mystacoceti or Balænoidea, _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p.
110.
Head large, depressed. Teeth rudimentary; they never cut the gums. Palate
with transverse, fringed, horny plates of baleen. Nostrils separate,
longitudinal. Gullet very contracted. Tympanic bones simple, large,
cochleate, attached to an expanding periotic bone, which forms part of
the skull.
The baleen of the different Whales may be divided by its structure, by
its form, and by its colour. The form and structure often go together.
The baleen consists of two parts:—1, the outer layer, called the enamel
coat; and, 2, the central fibres, which form the fringe on the inner edge
of the blade: both are well seen in cross sections under the microscope.
The outer coat or enamel differs in thickness in the different kinds.
Thus it is very thick and forms the greater part of the blade in the
Greenland Whale; and in different kinds it gradually becomes thinner,
until it only forms a thin coat over the central fibres. The central
longitudinal fibres differ in thickness and in number. When they are very
slender, as in the Greenland Whale, they form only a single layer between
the two coats of enamel, and their produced ends make a very fine, long,
flaccid fringe to the inner edge of the blade. In other Whales they
are very numerous, in many series, and form a considerable part of the
thickness of the whalebone, and make a more or less broad and rigid
fringe to the blade. In some the fibres are so thick and rigid that they
do not droop, but form an erect ragged edge to the short and broad blade,
so rigid, indeed, that the fibres of this kind of whalebone are used to
make brushes and brooms.
The whalebone varies in form, from being narrow, elongate, many times as
long as it is broad at the base, by many gradations, according to the
families or genera, until it is not longer than broad. The longest blades
have the most enamel and the finest and most flaccid fibres, which, on
the other hand, gradually (as it belongs to different genera) become
coarser and more rigid as the whalebone diminishes in length compared
with its breadth.
The whalebone or baleen offers exceedingly good and permanent characters
for the distinction and characters of the species when its structure
and form and colour are properly studied. It is stated that sometimes
the character of the whalebone is changed by its preparation, as, for
example, being soaked in water for some time before it is brought to this
country; but the soaking, although it may slightly alter the surface and
make the enamel coat rather thinner, does not alter the general form or
microscopic structure of the blades.
In my essay on Whales in the ‘Zoology of the Erebus & Terror,’ 1846,
I separated the Right Whales, or Balænidæ, into two divisions—the one
having very slender, long, polished whalebone with a single series of
fringe, and the second with coarser, shorter, and broader whalebone and
a thick coarse fringe. The first was afterwards called _Balæna_, and
the second _Eubalæna_. M. Beneden seems inclined to adopt this division
(see ‘Ostéographie,’ Cétacés, p. 144), observing that the former are
confined to the Arctic regions and the other to the more temperate
zones; but this is not correct, for _Balæna marginata_, as I stated in
my first essay, has the whalebone quite as polished and as fine as that
of the Greenland Whale. It lives on the west coast of Australia and New
Zealand, in company with the Black Whale of Australia and the Black
Whale of New Zealand (both of which, I have no doubt, have short coarse
whalebone). The Whale of the most northern parts of the Pacific yields
the north-west-coast whalebone, which is of a very coarse character.
The first section of Whales, with long, slender, elastic, polished,
finely fringed whalebone, contains two genera, _Balæna_ and _Neobalæna_.
The Whales of the second section, which have rough, brittle whalebone,
with a thick fringe of coarse hairs, includes four genera, viz.
_Eubalæna_, _Hunterius_, _Caperea_, and _Macleayius_.
It is very true that I have only seen the whalebone in one of these
genera, _Eubalæna_, in connexion with the bones of the animal; but as
“the South-sea whalers” (that is to say, those who fish in the Southern
and Pacific oceans) have only brought various examples of this kind of
whalebone from any of their voyages (except a few blades of the whalebone
of _B. marginata_, which they call “sea-tassel”), we may naturally
conclude that all the large Right Whales found in those seas have this
kind of whalebone.
Suborder I. BALÆNOIDEA (_cf._ p. 46).
Head large. Body stout. Dorsal fin none. Chest and belly smooth, without
plaits. Pectoral fin broad, truncated; fingers 5, graduated. Arm-bones
very short, thick; radius and humerus of equal length. Baleen elongate,
slender. Tympanic bones rhombic. Cervical vertebræ united.
Balænoidea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 1.
Family 1. BALÆNIDÆ. _Right Whales._
Balænidæ, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales B. M._ pp. 61, 75;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 1; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._
1867, vi.
Head very large, and body short. Dorsal fin none. Belly smooth. Baleen
elongate, slender. Vertebræ of the neck anchylosed. Pectoral fin broad,
truncated at the end; fingers 5. Tympanic bones rhombic; maxillary bones
narrow.
Capt. Maury’s Whale-Charts show that Right Whales are found in almost all
seas, from the poles to within 35 or 30 degrees of latitude on each side
of the equator. An experienced whaler observes that “Right Whales are
as seldom seen in that belt as Sperm-Whales are found out of it.” Capt.
Maury justly observes, the torrid zone is to these animals “forbidden
ground, and it is as physically impossible for them to cross the equator
as it would be to cross a sea of flame. In short, these researches show
that there is a belt of from two to three thousand miles in breadth, and
reaching from one side of the ocean to the other, in which the Right
Whale is never found.”—_Maury_, _Whale-Charts_, p. 233.
Prof. Van Beneden, in a paper to the Royal Belgian Academy, and
reproduced enlarged in the ‘Ostéographie—Cétacés,’ gives a geographical
distribution of Whales. He acknowledges only six species, having the
following distribution:—
1. _B. mysticetus._ The Arctic Ocean on both sides of Greenland, and on
the coast of Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk.
2. _B. biscayensis._ The North Atlantic, from latitude 65° to 45°, and a
belt across the Atlantic to the coast of the United States, from lat. 45°
to 50°.
3. _B. japonica._ A band across the North Pacific from lat. 60° to 45° on
the west coast of America and 45° to 30° on the coast of Japan.
4. _B. australis._ A belt across the South Atlantic, from lat. 25° to 30°
on the south-west coast of Africa and lat. 35° to 50° on the coast of
South America.
5. _B. antipodarum._ In a similar belt across the South Pacific from the
west coast of South America, in lat. 45°, to New Zealand.
6. A species which he does not name, said to inhabit a belt from Natal to
the south-east part of Australia, about lat. 30°.
See Dr. Gray’s observations on this theory, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868,
vol. i. p. 242, and 1870, vol. vi. p. 193, in which he observes “I think
I have proved that M. van Beneden’s theory is entirely unsupported by
facts.”
I. _Baleen thin, polished, with a thick enamel on each side and a fine
elongate slender fringe_ (cf. p. 42).
1. BALÆNA.
Balæna, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 79; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 1;
_Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
First rib slender, narrow, and undivided at the vertebral end. Tympanic
bones square; aperture nearly as long as the bone. There is at the
end of the radius and at the end of the cubitus a large cartilaginous
compartment which corresponds with the radial and cubital bone, and has
not even a bony nucleus; between these two cartilages is an intermediate
cartilage; below these are two or three carpals. Cervical vertebræ
united by their bodies. Upper lateral process of atlas broad at the base,
compressed, rather narrow, and rounded at the end; the lower lateral
process elongate, subcylindrical, angulated at the lower side of the base
(see Cat. Whales, p. 84, f. 4; Ostéogr. Cét. t. 4. f. 5-9). The lower
process of the second and third elongate and produced; the upper process
of the second, fifth, sixth, and seventh elongate, produced, and bent
forward. Bladebone with a large, compressed, elongate acromion (Ostéogr.
Cét. t. 4. f. 26). Carpus cartilaginous, with three small carpal bones
(Ostéogr. Cét. t. 4. f. 27).
1. Balæna mysticetus.
B.M.
Balæna mysticetus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 81, 370, figs. 1, 2, 4,
5; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 1, t. 1. f. 4 (baleen); _R.
Brown_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 534.
Inhab. North Sea.
Dr. Robert Brown gives an account and notes of the habits and migrations
of this animal. He observes:—“Where the Whale goes to in winter is still
unknown. It is said that it leaves Davis Strait about the month of
November, and produces young in the St. Lawrence River, between Quebec
and Camaroa, returning to Davis Strait in the spring. At all events,
early in the year they are found on the coast of Labrador, where the
English whalers occasionally attack them; but the ships arrive generally
too late, and the weather at that season is too tempestuous to render
the ‘south-west fishing’ very attractive.... It is said that early in
September they enter Cumberland (Hogarth’s) Sound in great numbers,
and remain until it is completely frozen up, which, according to the
Eskimo account, is not until January.... They enter the Sound again
in the spring, and remain until the heat of summer has melted off the
land-floes in these comparatively southern latitudes. It thus appears
that they winter and produce their young all along the broken water off
the southern coasts of Hudson’s Strait, Davis Strait, and Labrador.”
He continues, “I am strongly of belief that the Whales of the Spitzbergen
sea never, as a body, visit Davis Strait, but winter somewhere in the
open water at the southern edge of the northern ice-fields. The Whales
are being gradually driven further north.”
2. Balæna mediterranea.
Balæna mediterranea, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1870, vi.
pp. 198, 200.
Baleine, _Lacépède_, _Cétacés_, tab. 7. fig. 1.
Balæna biscayensis (part.), _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab.
7. fig. 1 (animal), figs. 8-11 (nuchal vertebræ), figs. 2, 3 (?
vertebræ).
Inhab. Mediterranean, I. St. Marguerite (_Lacépède_).
3. Balæna angulata.
B.M.
Balæna, mysticetus, var. angulata, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals &
Whales_, p. 86, f. 5 (ear-bones).
Inhab. North Sea? Ear-bones, British Museum.
4. Balæna nordcaper.
Balæna nordcaper, _Bonnat_.
Balæna islandica, _Brisson_.
Balæna biscayensis, _Eschricht_.
Balæna mysticetus, var., _Brown_, _P. Z. S._ 1868. p. 546.
Inhab. Iceland. Called “Slet-bag.”
It has been ascertained, “1st, that it is much more active than the
Greenland Whale, much quicker and more violent in its movements, and
accordingly both more difficult and dangerous to capture; 2nd, that it
is smaller (it being, however, impossible to give an exact statement of
its length) and has much less blubber; 3rd, that its head is shorter, and
that its whalebone is comparatively small and scarcely more than half the
length of that of the _B. mysticetus_; 4th, that it is regularly infested
with a cirriped belonging to the genus _Coronula_, and that it belongs
to the temperate North Atlantic as exclusively as the _B. mysticetus_
belongs to the icy sea.”—_Dr. Brown_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 546.
Dr. Brown says that barnacles are looked upon as a sign of age in a
Whale; and he considers that a considerable portion of the description
of the _nordcaper_ corresponds with what he has said of the Spitsbergen
whale (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 547).
See also:—
1. Balæna mysticetus, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. S. Philad._ 1869,
pp. 17 & 35.
The Bow-headed Whale, Scammond, _American whalers_.
Inhab. Behring’s Straits.
2. Balæna kuliomoch, _Chamisso_, _Nov. Acta Natur._ tab. 7.
fig. 1; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870, vi. p. 202.
Balæna cullamacha, _Chamisso_, _Nov. Act._ xii. p. 251, t. ⸺;
_Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Phil._ 1868, p. 225, 1869, pp. 14, 17 &
40, fig. 4.
Inhab. North Pacific.
From wooden model made by the Aleutians.
2. NEOBALÆNA.
Skull rather depressed; brain-cavity nearly as long as the beak,
depressed, much expanded on the sides, with a very deep notch on the
middle of each side over the condyles of the lower jaw, and with a
subtriangular crown-plate. The nose as broad as the expanded brain-cavity
at the base, regularly attenuated to a fine point in front, and slightly
arched downwards. Lower jaw laminar, compressed, high; the upper edge
thin, and inflexed the greater part of its length, erect in front; the
lower edge inflexed in front, the rest of the edge being simple. The
baleen elongate, slender, several times as long as broad, with a fringe
of a single series of fine fibres; enamelled surface smooth and polished,
thick.
[Illustration: Figs. 1 & 2. Side view and top view of the skull of
_Neobalæna marginata_, from Dr. Hector’s figures.]
1. Neobalæna marginata.
B.M.
Balæna marginata, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales Brit. Mus._ p.
90; _Hector_, _Proc. & Trans. of the New-Zealand Institute_,
1869, t. 2 B. f. 1-4; _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1870, v. p. 221,
and vi. p. 155, figs. 1 & 2.
Inhab. New Zealand; Island of Kawau (_Sir G. Grey_). Mus. Wellington.
In width and general form the beak of the skull is somewhat like the beak
of some of the Finner Whales; but it does not at all justify Mr. Knox’s
idea that _Balæna marginata_ is a Finner. But this difference of skull
makes us more anxious to have the description of the entire animal and
its skeleton, as the animal may prove to be the type of a new family of
Whales, between the true Whales and Finners.
This pigmy whale, which is not more than 15 or 16 feet long, is a
representative in the Southern Ocean of the gigantic Right Whale of
the Greenland seas. It has the most beautiful, the most flexible, most
elastic, and the toughest whalebone or baleen yet discovered; and if
this were of larger size, it would fetch a much higher price than the
whalebone of the Greenland Whale, the latter being three or four times
the value of the brittle coarse whalebone of the _Eubalænæ_ or Right
Whales of the Southern and Pacific Oceans. The trade of the Continental
nations being chiefly confined to their colonies, or their merchants
obtaining the whalebone that is used in their manufactures second-hand,
there are not in the market the varieties of whalebone and finner-bone
which we have in this country, where the whalebone and finner-bone
from different localities bear each a different value. This perhaps
explains why the Continental zoologists (as Eschricht) who have paid
attention to the structure of whales have not paid sufficient attention
to the characters afforded by the shape, structure, and colour of this
substance, to which I called their attention more than twenty years
ago, and showed its value as a character for distinguishing the genera
and species. It has been a fertile subject of reproach to me that I
established some species on the characters afforded by this substance;
but I need only mention, as a proof of the little attention Van Beneden
has paid to this part of my work, that in his book on the anatomy of
Whales, now in progress, after saying that I have established the species
_Balæna marginata_ on three blades of whalebone, he says I have called it
_Eubalæna marginata_, thus confounding it with the Whales with brittle
and coarse whalebone—whereas the chief reason that induced me to consider
the blades to belong to a distinct species was their very fine and tough
structure. The accuracy of the determination is now proved by the very
different form of its skull from that of any other known Whale. In the
same manner, the _Physalus antarcticus_, also established on finner-bone
or baleen imported from New Zealand, has been proved to be a very
distinct species of that genus, named Sulphur-bottoms by the whalers.
From the description given at page 90 of the British-Museum ‘Catalogue of
Seals and Whales,’ there is no doubt that the baleen corresponds with the
above species. The specimen was obtained at Kawau Island by Sir George
Grey, and appears to be unique, as the species has hitherto only been
known from the baleen.
The dimensions are as follows:—
lbs.
Weight of cranium 58
Weight of lower jaw 13
ft. in.
Length 4 9
Fronto-nasal section 2 10
To centre of orbit 3 10
Width at orbit 2 5
Width at mastoid process 2 7
in. lin.
Lower jaw, high 3 11
Depth (greatest) 8 0
Baleen 29 inches long, 3½ inches in extreme width.
Black margin from ¼ to ⅜ inch.
“Knox now admits that this is not the Sulphur-bottom, which he says is
the Trigger of the New-Zealand whalers. He fancies that _B. marginata_
may be the true Finner of the south. I will try to find some more of the
bones.”—_Trans. New Zeal. Inst._ 1870, p. 26.
This Whale, from the form and structure of the whalebone, cannot be a
Finner, but is certainly, as I arranged it, a true Right Whale, very
nearly allied to the Right Whale of Greenland, and of a very small size.
The bones of this Whale would be a most valuable addition to the British
Museum or any zoological museum. They appear not to be uncommon in the
Kawau Islands; and the measurements of the skull are a valuable addition
to our knowledge of the species.
This small Right Whale of the Antarctic Sea is the representative of the
Right Whale in the Arctic Sea, and, judging from the length of the head,
cannot be more than 14 or 15 feet long, while the Greenland Whale is from
50 to 65 feet long.
II. _Baleen thick, not polished, with a thin enamel coat on each side,
and a coarse thick fringe_ (cf. p. 37).
3. EUBALÆNA.
Eubalæna, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 91; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
1; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867; _Flower_, _Trans.
Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 115.
First rib broad at the vertebral end. Tympanic bone square; aperture
nearly as long as the bone. The first six cervical vertebræ all united
by their bodies. The upper lateral process of the atlas subcylindrical,
narrow at the base, recurved and rounded at the end; the lower lateral
process narrow at the base, swollen and rounded at the end (Ostéog. Cét.
t. 1. f. 19). Carpus cartilaginous, with six carpal bones, a radius
and cubitus, one radial and one cubital and two carpals in the second
range (Ostéog. Cét. t. 1. f. 1). Scapula as long as broad, with a small
cylindrical coracoid process, rounded at the end. Five phalanges to the
middle finger, four to the index and ring fingers, four to the little
finger, and two to the thumb. The first rib is simple at the upper and
thin at the free edge. The nasal bone rhomboidal, moderate. Vertebræ
50-59.
1. Eubalæna australis.
B.M.
Eubalæna australis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 91, fig. 6; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 1.
Balæna australis, _Cuv._, _Oss. Foss._ v. t. 25-27.
Balæna capensis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ t. 1. f. 3
(baleen).
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
2. Eubalæna Sieboldii.
Eubalæna Sieboldii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 96; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 1, t. 1. f. 2 (baleen).
Balæna japonica, _Gray_, _Zool. Ereb. & Ter._ p. 15, tab. 1*.
fig. 2 (baleen).
Balæna alutiensis, _Meyer_; _Van Beneden_, _Bull. Acad.
Belgique_, xx. 1866, no. 14. [Both from the North-west-Coast
whalebone of commerce, which is quite distinct from the
South-sea whalebone, brought from the Cape.]
Balæna japonica, _Eschricht_, _Vid. Selsk. Skrivt._ ser. 5.
ix. p. 1, Kjöbenh. 1869, pl. 1 (skull of fœtus), pl. 2 (head);
_Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1870, vi. p. 202.
Inhab. Kamtschatka. Skeleton of fœtus 5¼ feet long, in Mus. Copenhagen.
See also the following doubtful species:—
1. Balæna japonica, _Lacépède_, _Mém. Mus._ iv. p. 473.
Balæna lunulata, _Lacép._ _Mém. Mus._ iv. p. 475.
These two are from Chinese, or, rather, Japanese drawings.
2. Balæna australis, _Temminck_, _Fauna Japonica_, Taf. 28 & 29
(not _Desmoulins_).
Balæna Sieboldii, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1864, xiv. p. 349.
From a model made by the Japanese in porcelain clay.
3. Eubalæna? cisarctica.
Eubalæna? cisarctica, _Cope_.
Balæna cisarctica, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad._ 1865,
p. 1; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1868, i. pp. 244 & 247, 1870,
vi. p. 200.
Balæna biscayensis, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 7. figs.
4, 5, 6 (ear-bones only).
Inhab. Atlantic.
“There is a skeleton of the _Balæna cisarctica_ in the Museum of the
Academy of an individual of 37 feet, and a ramus mandibuli 16 feet in
length, indicating a total of 68 feet, adult size. A scapula in the
Museum, Rutger’s College, New Brunswick, N. J., measures 36 inches in
height, and 48·5 inches in width, indicating an adult of 57 feet in
length. A young individual of 45 feet, line-measurement, awaits mounting
in the Museum Compar. Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. Of this individual I will
shortly give a detailed description in an essay on the species. Like the
other specimens, it presents a strong acromion. The phalanges of the
manus exhibited an important difference from those of _B. australis_. In
it they number respectively 2, 5, 6, 3, 3, while Cuvier gives (Oss. Foss.
227. 23) 2, 5, 6, 5, 4.”
4. HUNTERIUS.
Hunterius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 78, 98; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 1; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
First rib broad, with a double head at the vertebral end. Tympanic bones
square; aperture nearly as long as the bone. Vertebræ 57 or 58; the five
first cervical united. Five phalanges in the fourth or ring finger, and
four to the second, third, and fifth fingers. The first rib bifid and
articulated to the first two dorsals, or the last cervical and the first
dorsal; the second rib very thick at the free end. The nasal bones very
large.
1. Hunterius Temminckii.
Hunterius Temminckii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 98, fig. 8; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 1; _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870, p. 191.
Balæna australis, _Temm._ _F. Japon._ t. 28, 29.
Balæna australis, var., _Van Ben._ _Ostéogr. Cét._ p. 35.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
M. van Beneden regards the character on which this genus is established
as merely a variation of _Balæna australis_ (Ostéog. Cét. p. 35).
The skeleton was sent from the Cape of Good Hope by Dr. Horstock. It is
described by Schlegel, Abhand. Gebiete der Zool. 1841, p. 37 (Flower, P.
Z. S. 1864).
2. Hunterius biscayensis.
Hunterius biscayensis, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1868,
i. p. 244; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Balæna biscayensis, _Eschricht_, _Compt. Rendus_, 1860, _Act.
Soc. Linn. Bordeaux_, xiii.; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870,
p. 200 (not _Van Beneden_).
Balæna eubalæna, _Flower_, _P. Z. S._ 1864, p. 391.
Inhab. St. Sebastian. Skeleton of very young animal in Mus. Copenhagen,
from the Museum of Pampeluna.
Mr. Flower informs me that this skeleton belongs to the genus
_Hunterius_, which has brittle whalebone, with a large coarse fringe
(which easily splits into strips), and a bifid first rib.
3. Hunterius Swedenborgii.
Hunterius Swedenborgii, _Lilljeborg_, _N. Act. A. Sci. Upsal._
vi. 1867, p. 35, t. 9, 10, 11 (skeleton); _Gray_, _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 1.
Inhab. North Sea; Sweden (subfossil).
5. CAPEREA.
Caperea, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 78, 101; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 2; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
First rib ⸺? Baleen ⸺? Tympanic bones irregular, rhombic; aperture
irregular, much contracted at the upper end; the wide part not half the
length of the bone. “Cervical vertebræ all united. First rib single
at the upper, and very broad at the lower end. Bladebone (acromion)
rudimentary. Coracoid process none.”—_Lilljeborg._
Vertebræ 55; the seven cervical all soldered by their bodies, and the
spinous processes of the first five united into a single crest, and of
the two last into a separate crest; each has a distinct upper lateral
process and, except the seventh, a distinct lateral process. Upper
lateral process of the atlas narrow, square, reflexed, and bent upwards;
lower one thick, enlarged, and rounded at the end (Ostéogr. Cét. t. 3.
f. 4, 5). Scapula with only a slight ridge in the place of the acromion
(Ostéogr. Cét. t. 3. f. 7). Carpus cartilaginous, with five small bones.
Skull with a slender arched beak. Lower jaw subcylindrical, thick near
the condyle, rather attenuated in front.
The first rib is very narrow above, and gradually becomes very broad
below and deeply notched on the lower edge, which embraces nearly the
whole length of the sternum; upper end with a single head. Second rib
equally large at the free end, and not notched. Phalanges 1, 4, 5, 4, 3.
I believe that the “_bonnet_” of the Sandwich-Islands whalers is only the
“_topknot_” of the old male whale of this genus, or of a nearly allied
species.
1. Caperea antipodarum.
B.M.
Caperea antipodarum, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 101, f. 9; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ P. 2.
Balæna australis, _Desm. Diction_.
Balæna antipodarum, _Van Ben._ _Ostéogr. Cét._ p. 46, t. 3;
_Gray_, _Dieffenbach_, t. 1.
Inhab. New Zealand. Skeleton, Mus. Paris.
The seven cervical vertebræ are completely soldered by their bodies; and
the first five spinal apophyses form a continuous crest, and the two last
form a separate crest (Ostéogr. Cét. t. 3. f. 4, 5). The petrous portion
of the skull short, small. The bladebone longer than broad, with only a
slight indication of a process on the front edge. Upper lateral process
of the axis square, bent back; lower process rounded at the end and
prominent.
6. MACLEAYIUS.
Macleayius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 103, 371; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 2.
Cervical vertebræ united into a single mass; upper lateral process of the
atlas very broad, compressed, occupying the greater part of the side,
truncated at the end. Lower margin close on the lower lateral process.
Lower lateral process elongate, compressed, rather swollen in the middle,
truncated at the end and bent forward, the upper processes of the second
and third cervical vertebræ forming a crest (Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 105,
f. 10, 11, and p. 372, f. 74, 75). Baleen ⸺?
1. Macleayius australiensis.
Macleayius australiensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 105 (figs. 10,
11), 371 (figs. 74, 75); _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Inhab. Australian seas.
Atlas vertebra—the width, measuring from the extremity of the lower
processes, 28½ inches; width of the atlas 25 inches; height from the base
of atlas to top of crest 18 inches. Thickness of last cervical vertebra
10 inches.
2. Macleayius britannicus.
B.M.
Macleayius britannicus, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870, vi.
pp. 198 & 204.
Balæna biscayensis, _Van Beneden_ (part.), _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab.
7. fig. 7 (copied from _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 83,
fig. 3).
Balæna britannica, _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870, vi. p. 200.
Inhab. Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire.
Cervical vertebræ of _Balæna_ from Lyme Regis (Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales,
p. 83, f. 3) copied on plate of _Balæna biscayensis_, Ostéog. Cét. t.
7. f. 7. Dredged up at Lyme Regis. The lateral processes of this bone
are much more like those of _Macleayius australiensis_ than those of any
other species; yet it differs in the outer edge of the broad lateral
process being oblique, narrowed towards the base, and in the lower
lateral process being shorter, turned up at the end, and the outer end
obliquely truncated and subangular below. This massive vertebra has
no affinity with _B. biscayensis_, and indicates the existence of a
completely different new species of Right Whales, which appears to be an
inhabitant of our seas.
Suborder II. BALÆNOPTEROIDEA (_cf._ p. 36).
Balænopteridæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 61, 106.
Balænopteroidea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p 2.
Head moderate. Body elongate. Dorsal fin distinct, rarely wanting. Belly
longitudinally plaited, rarely smooth. Baleen short, broad. Maxillary
bones broad. Pectoral fin lanceolate; arms elongate; radius and ulna much
longer than the humerus. Fingers 4, subequal. Vertebræ of the neck free,
or partially united. Tympanic bones oblong or ovate.
Family 2. AGAPHELIDÆ. _Scrag Whales._
Head moderate; body elongate; hinder part of the back keeled and notched.
Cervical vertebræ free. Pectoral fin lanceolate. Fingers 4. Throat
without plaits. No dorsal fin. Ribs single-headed.
Mr. Cope “mentioned that he had an opportunity of examining a portion of
a specimen of the Scrag Whale of Dudley, _Balæna gibbosa_ of Erxleben,
and ascertained that it represented a genus not previously known. It was
a Fin-back Whale; but without dorsal fin or throat-folds, resembling
superficially the genus _Balæna_. The _baleen short and curved_. The
genus was called _Agaphelus_.”
1. AGAPHELUS.
Cervical vertebræ free. Fingers 4. Throat without plaits. No dorsal fin.
Ribs single-headed. Scapula with acromion (Cope, Proc. Soc. N. Sc. Phil.
1869, p. 16).
Agaphelus, _Cope_, _Proc. Soc. N. Sc. Phil._ 1868, pp. 159,
225; _Gray_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870, vi. p. 200.
“Fingers four, elongate. Cervical vertebræ ⸺? Lumbar and anterior caudal
vertebræ longer than their greatest diameter. Dorsal fin wanting. Gular
and pectoral region without folds. Scapula with well-developed acromion
and coracoid. Baleen narrow, short, curved.
“The baleen is peculiar; throughout the length of the maxillary bone it
nowhere exceeded one foot in length, and the width of the band, or length
of the base of each plate, four inches. It is of a creamy white; the
fringe very coarse, white, and resembling hogs’ bristles.
“The ear-bone is much compressed, with an inferior carina, towards which
the lip of dense bone is suddenly decurved. The longitudinal opening is
much contracted, especially anteriorly, where the bone is pinched up into
a keel; and there is no abrupt concavity of the inner lip at that point.
External surface not very rugose. Total length 3 in. 2·5 lines.
“The scapula preserved is low and elongate, with well-developed acromion
and coracoid process. It is evidently of the type of _Balænoptera_
and _Physalus_; the ulna and radius relatively less elongate than in
_Sibbaldius laticeps_ and _borealis_, being 1·5 as long as the humerus,
thus resembling _Physalus_.
“The four fingers, with the second much the longest, form a fin of the
type of those genera.
“The ear-bone is much more compressed than in _Physalus antiquorum_ or
_Sibbaldius laticeps_.
“The mandibular ramus is rather massive, moderately curved, and with a
more elevated coronoid process than in any Whale that I have seen.
“The greatest peculiarity is in the form of the lumbar and anterior
caudal vertebræ; they are of a much more elongate form than any I have
seen or found figured, excepting those of the _Balænoptera rostrata_ (as
figured by Gaimard in ‘Voyage de la Recherche’), which, however, are
relatively shorter. Those of the present species are of greater length
than transverse diameter, the lumbars most elongate; all furnished with
an acute hypapophysial keel and concave sides, and entirely transverse
diapophyses. This peculiarity is consistent with the account of my
informant, who stated the animal to have been of an unusually elongate
and slender form. When it came ashore it had perhaps been dead ten days;
the flukes and muscular region as far as the third caudal vertebra had
been devoured, probably by Sharks and Killers, and the abdominal region
much lacerated; the edge of a fin preserved was slit by the teeth of
some carnivorous enemy. The measurement from the end of the muzzle to
the end of the third caudal was 35 feet, which may be reduced to 33 feet
axial. Up to this point the dorsal line was, according to my informant,
entirely smooth, without knob or fin, or scar of one; hence I suppose
the fin (if present) to have been situated, as in _Sibbaldius_ &c., at
the posterior fourth of the length, and not, as in _Balænoptera_, on the
posterior third. It may then be safely assumed, bearing in mind the form
of vertebræ, that ten feet of the whale’s length had been removed, making
in all 43 feet. That the species attains over 50 feet is probable, as
the present individual was quite young, the epiphyses separating from
the vertebræ with the greatest ease. The slender form of the animal
is corroborated by the slenderness and slight curvature of the ribs,
one attached beneath the scapula, probably the second, being narrower
than the corresponding ones in _Sibbaldius_. I therefore think it most
probable that in this form the anterior ribs are single-headed.”—_Cope_,
_l. c._ p. 223.
1. Agaphelus gibbosus. _The Scrag Whale._
Agaphelus gibbosus, _Cope_.
Balæna gibbosa, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 90.
Scrag Whale, _Dudley_, _Phil. Trans._ xxxiii. p. 259.
Inhab. North Atlantic.
2. RHACHIANECTES.
Rhachianectes, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Philad._ 1869, pp.
14 & 15.
Cervical vertebræ free. Throat without plaits. Dorsal fin none. Scapula
without acromion.
1. Rhachianectes glaucus. _The Californian Grey Whale._
Rhachianectes glaucus, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Philad._
1869, pp. 17 & 40, fig. 8.
Agaphelus glaucus, _Cope_, _ibid._ 1868, p. 225.
Inhab. California, San Francisco.
“The points in which this species differs from those of the genus
_Balæna_ previously known are numerous, and will no doubt be increased on
a further knowledge of the animal.
“The head, between one-fourth and one-fifth of the total length,
allies it to the shorter-headed species. From the _B. australis_ the
number of dorsal vertebræ, and the colour and shortness of the baleen,
distinguish it; and no doubt other features will be brought out when
we are acquainted with the Cape species. The dorsal serration is not
known to occur in any species of the genus _Balæna_, though said to be
characteristic of the _A. gibbosus_, whose characters I have just given.
“Two _Balænæ_ have been described as inhabiting the North Pacific
Ocean, _Balæna Sieboldii_, Gray (Catal. Cet. 1865, p. 96), and _Balæna
cullamach_, Chamisso (Nov. Act. Acad. Cæs. xii. p. 251, tab.)
“Both have been established on figures carved by the natives, of the
Japanese and Aleutian Islands respectively, the former under the
supervision of a naturalist, the traveller Siebold. The carving of the
_B. cullamach_, judging from the figure given by Chamisso, can but
doubtfully represent any species; but if the species exist, it will rest
on the following diagnosis of its describer:—‘Rictu amplo forma litteræ
S curvato, elasmiis maximis atro-cæruleis, spiraculis flexuosis, in
medio capite, tuberculo in apice rostri (ex imagine), pectore pinnisque
pectoralibus albis, dorso gibboso sexpinnato.’
“These are, however, true _Balænæ_. A species of _Agaphelus_ exists in
the Kamtschatkan seas, according to Pallas, who, however, derives his
information solely from wooden models made by the Aleutian Islanders.
This is not sufficient basis for an introduction to the scientific
system; yet Pallas indulges in applying to it the name _Balæna
agamachschik_. The pectoral limb of this species is said, however, to be
white, with the underside of the flukes, characters not found in the _A.
glaucus_. Dr. Gray has already (Cat. Brit. Mus.) indicated that this, if
reliable, indicates a genus unknown to him.
“The _Agaphelus glaucus_ is the Grey Whale of the coasts of California.
Two specimens have been examined by my friend Wm. H. Dall, of the
scientific staff of the U. S. Russian-American Telegraph Expedition, one
of them near Monterey; and descriptions, as complete as the state of the
specimens would allow, were made.
“These, which were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and placed
in my hands by Prof. Baird, are quite sufficient to indicate a Whale
of a species hitherto unnoticed, and to render certain its future
identification.
“Dorsal vertebræ and ribs 13; lumbar and caudal (those in the fluke
cut off with it) 28. Scapula, breadth and height not very different,
with a short broad coracoid process; its head opposite first rib.
Apparently only four fingers, of which the second is the longest. 145
laminæ of baleen on each side, the longest 18 inches long; colour bright
yellow.”—_Cope_, _Proc. Ac. N. Sc. Philad._ 1868, p. 226.
Family 3. MEGAPTERIDÆ. _Humpbacked Whales._
Megapterina, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 113.
Megapteridæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Dorsal fin low, broad; pectoral fin very long, with four very long
fingers of many phalanges. Vertebræ 50 or 60; cervical vertebræ often
anchylosed. Lateral process of the axis tardily ossified. Neural canal
large, high, triangular. Ribs 14 or 15.
1. MEGAPTERA.
Megaptera, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 113, 117; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 2; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ 1867, vi.
Bladebone without acromion or coracoid process. Body of cervical vertebræ
subcircular.
1. Megaptera longimana.
B.M.
Megaptera longimana, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 119 (fig.), 373;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Megaptera boops, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ tab.
30 (baleen and jaws with rudimentary teeth), t. 33. f. 12
(vertebra).
Inhab. North Sea.
2. Megaptera Novæ-Zelandiæ.
B.M.
Megaptera Novæ-Zelandiæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 128, fig. 20;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Inhab. New Zealand. Ear-bones in Brit. Mus.
3. Megaptera? Burmeisteri.
Megaptera? Burmeisteri, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 129.
Megaptera Lalandii (part.), _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._
Inhab. Buenos Ayres. Skeleton, Mus. Buenos Ayres.
4. Megaptera americana.
Megaptera americana, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 129.
Inhab. Bermuda.
“The _norwega_ is a Humpback which has the belly white and smooth (?),
back very dark bluish, length 50 to 55 feet. This whale gives more oil
than the mystica.”—_Hartt_, _Geology & Physical Geography of Brazil_, p.
182.
“The whalebone is short, and sells well. The beach on which the whales
are cut up is strewed during the season with bones. There must be the
bones of 500 whales on the spot. The fishery is carried on at Bahia on a
much larger scale than at Caravellas.”—_L. c._ p. 185.
5. Megaptera kuzira.
Megaptera kuzira, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 130.
Inhab. Japan. Skull, Mus. Leyden.
6. Megaptera osphyia.
Megaptera osphyia, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1865, p. 4.
Inhab. Atlantic. Skeleton. Mus. Niagara.
“A second and more full examination of the _Megaptera osphyia_, Cope,
furnishes the following additional points and characters. The specimen is
young, and measures in its present condition 34 feet. It has, however,
lost a considerable number of caudal vertebræ, and, from the posterior
part of the column, of intervertebral cartilages also; add to this the
shrinking of the cartilages preserved, and the increase of length would
perhaps amount to 8 feet, giving 42 in all. The asserted length of 50
feet, line measurement, which I quoted in my original description, is no
doubt an exaggeration.
“The glenoid process is margined by an angular prominence, the rudiment
of the coracoid, precisely as in the _M. brasiliensis_. The diapophysis
of the atlas is a flat vertical plate, extending from opposite the base
of the _foramen dentatum_ to opposite the widest point of the spinal
canal; inferior posterior outline of the atlas broad, slightly concave
mesially. The mandible is peculiar in the strong angular process,
which extends from behind, round the side, projecting as far as the
condyle, and separated from it by a deep groove. The third and fourth
cervicals are united by the neural arch. The first rib is very broad at
the extremity; length 37 inches, width at end 8·22 inches. The orbital
processes of the frontal bone are not contracted at the extremities
as in _M. longimana_, but are more as in _Balænopteræ_; entire width
over and within edge of orbit 15½ in.; length to vertical plate of
maxillary 31 inches. The baleen measures 2 feet in length, is black,
with three rows of coarse bristles. Its base is one curve; its length
is spirally twisted. The species is probably one of the largest of the
_Balænidæ_.”—_Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._ 1868, p. 194.
7. Megaptera versabilis.
Megaptera versabilis, _Cope_, _Pr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil._ 1869,
p. 17, figs. 5 & 6.
Inhab. North Pacific, Californian coast.
2. POESCOPIA.
Poescopia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 113; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
2.
Bladebone with small coracoid process. Body of cervical vertebræ nearly
square.
1. Poescopia Lalandii.
B.M.
Poescopia Lalandii, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 126 (fig. 19, p.
125), 373; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2, tab. 33. f. 3, 4
(vertebræ, from _Cuvier_).
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. Skeleton, Mus. Paris.
3. ESCHRICHTIUS.
Eschrichtius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 113, 131; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 2; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ vi. p. 12, 1867.
Bladebone with large coracoid process. Body of cervical vertebræ
separate, small, roundish-oblong. The neural canal very broad and high.
1. Eschrichtius robustus.
B.M.
Eschrichtius robustus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 133 (fig.), 373;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._
1867, vi. p. 16, t. 1-8; _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad._ 1865, p. 4.
Inhab. North Sea; coast of Devonshire, Sweden; Atlantic.
“The _Eschrichtius robustus_ is admitted on the evidence of a ramus of
the under jaw in the Museum, Rutger’s College, which is of peculiar form,
and closely resembles the figure given by Lilljeborg of that portion of
this rare species.”—_Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad._ 1868, p. 194.
Family 4. PHYSALIDÆ. _Finner Whales._
Physalina, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 134.
Physalinidæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Dorsal fin high, erect, compressed, falcate, about three-fourths the
entire length from the nose. Pectoral fin moderate, with four short
fingers of four or six phalanges. Vertebræ 55 or 64. Cervical vertebræ
not anchylosed. Neural canal oblong, transverse.
* _Vertebræ 60 or 64; first rib single-headed_ (cf. p. 54).
1. BENEDENIA.
Benedenia, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 135; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 2.
Rostrum of skull narrow, attenuated, with straight slanting edges. Second
cervical vertebra with two short truncated lateral processes. The first
rib single-headed.
1. Benedenia Knoxii.
B.M.
Benedenia Knoxii, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 138, figs. 24-26;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Benedenia boops, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ tab. 32. f.
1, 2 (cervical vertebræ).
Inhab. North Sea, coast of Wales.
2. PHYSALUS.
Physalus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 139; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 2; _Lilljeborg_, _N. Acta Upsal._ 1867, p. 72.
Rostrum of the skull narrow, attenuated, with straight sloping sides.
Second cervical vertebra with a broad lateral process, with a large
perforation at the base. First rib single-headed. Sternum trifoliate,
with a long slender hind process. Fingers shorter than the forearm-bones.
Scapula very broad; acromion and coracoid process well developed.
† _Lateral rings of the second cervical vertebra as long as the diameter
of the body of the vertebra._—Gray, _l. c._ p. 374; Synops. Whales &
Dolph. p. 2.
1. Physalus antiquorum.
B.M.
Ribs 14·14.
Physalus antiquorum, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 144 (figs. 29-32),
374; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2, t. 1. f. 6 (baleen), t.
32. f. 5, 6 (cervical vertebræ); _Flower_, _P. Z. S._ 1869, p.
604, pl. 47 (male).
Balænoptera musculus, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 12 & t.
13. figs. 11-24.
Inhab. North Sea, Greenland, Hampshire, &c.
2. Physalus Duguidii.
Ribs 15·15.
Physalus Duguidii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 158, figs. 33-35;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Inhab. North Sea, Orkneys.
†† _The lateral rings of the cervical vertebræ shorter than the diameter
of the bodies of the vertebræ._—Gray, _l. c._ p. 374; Synops. Whales &
Dolph. p. 2.
3. Physalus patachonicus.
Physalus patachonicus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 374, figs. 76-86;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 2.
Inhab. River Plata.
4. Physalus brasiliensis.
B.M.
Physalus brasiliensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 162.
Balænoptera brasiliensis, _Gray_, _Zool. Ereb. & Ter._ p. 5.
Inhab. Bahia.
“_Mystica_ differs from the _norwega_ in having the back black and the
belly and throat furrowed. Sometimes there are white spots on the side.
“The first Whales appear in the Abrolhos waters at about the end of May,
and they stay until October. The females often bring young calves with
them, and appear to seek the shelter of the reefs. The headquarters of
the Abrolhos fishery is at Caravellas, or, rather, at the mouth of the
river Caravellas, where are situated the armações or trying-houses.”—_E.
Hartt_, _Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil_, p. 182.
“The fishery begins at Bahia, according to Castelnau (Expédition dans
l’Amérique du Sud, tome i. p. 750), about the 13th of June, and lasts
till the 21st September. At Caravellas I was assured that the Whales
always appeared later than at Bahia, and the fishery does not always
begin until the last week in June, continuing through the month of
September.”—_E. Hartt._
3. CUVIERIUS.
Cuvierius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 164; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Rostrum of the skull broad, the outer sides curved, especially in
front. The second cervical vertebra with two short, thick lateral
processes. First rib single-headed. Sternum oblong-ovate, transverse.
Hands elongate; fingers slender, second finger much longer than the
forearm-bone. Scapula with a broad acromion and a rudimentary coracoid.
1. Cuvierius Sibbaldii.
B.M.
Cuvierius Sibbaldii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 380; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Cuvierius latirostris, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 165.
Physalus Sibbaldii, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 160 (fig. 36), 380.
Balænoptera Sibbaldii, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 12 &
t. 13. figs. 25-34.
Balænoptera carolinæ, _Malm_, _Monog. Illust._ t. 44.
Balænoptera musculus, _Sars_, _Vid. Selsk. Forhand._ 1865, t.
1, 2, & 3.
“Steypireyör,” _Reinhardt_, _Vidensk. Meddel._ 1867; _Ann. N.
Hist._ 1868.
The Grey Fin Whale, _Turner_, _Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin._ 1869, p.
34 (from Londonderry).
Inhab. North Sea. Mus. Hull.
The great northern Rorqual of Knox probably belongs to this species. Its
skeleton is in the Edinburgh Museum.
** _Vertebræ 58-60. First and second ribs double-headed_ (cf. p. 52);
_second cervical vertebræ with a broad lateral process, perforated at the
base. Lower jaw compressed, with distinct coronoid process._—Sibbaldius,
_Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 169; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
4. RUDOLPHIUS.
Rudolphius, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 170; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 3.
Sibbaldius, _Lilljeborg_, _Nova Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
Dorsal fin compressed, falcate, two-thirds the entire length from the
nose. Ribs 13·13; first rib short, dilated at the external end. Sternum
elongate, not narrow at posterior lobe. Fingers elongate; the second
finger rather shorter than the forearm-bone. Scapula very broad, with a
large broad acromion process and a moderate coracoid one.
1. Rudolphius laticeps.
B.M.
Sibbaldius laticeps, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 170, figs. 37, 38.
Rudolphius laticeps, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Balænoptera laticeps, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 10 & t.
11. figs. 11-35.
Inhab. North Sea.
Nose of skull more than twice the length of brain-cavity from the nasal
bones.
5. SIBBALDIUS.
Sibbaldius, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 175, 1865; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Flowerius, _Lilljeborg_, _Nova Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
Dorsal fin very small, far behind, and placed on a thick prominence. Ribs
14·14; first short, sternal end very broad and deeply notched. Sternum
trifoliate, with a short broad hinder lobe. Scapula broad, with very long
acromion and short slender coracoid process. Fingers ⸺?
1. Sibbaldius borealis.
Sibbaldius borealis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 175, fig. 39; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Flowerius gigas, _Lilljeborg_, _Nova Acta Upsal._ vi. 1867.
Inhab. North Sea.
Mr. Flower considers _B. borealis_, Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.
1866, p. 297, from North Atlantic, as very nearly allied to _Balænoptera
Schlegelii_.
2. Sibbaldius Schlegelii.
Sibbaldius Schlegelii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 178, figs. 40-48;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Balænoptera Schlegelii, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 14 &
15.
Inhab. Java.
Cervical vertebræ separate (t. 14. f. 5-12); the second with a broad
short lateral expansion, having a moderate-sized oblong perforation. Beak
of skull very long, three and a half times the length of the brain-cavity.
3. Sibbaldius? antarcticus.
Sibbaldius? antarcticus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 381, fig. 87;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Balænoptera antarctica, _Van Beneden_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ p. 234.
Inhab. Buenos Ayres.
Van Beneden regards it as a doubtful species.
4. Sibbaldius sulphureus.
Sibbaldius sulphureus, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1869, pp. 10, 19, f. 11.
Sulphur-bottom _of the Whalers on the North-west Coast_.
Dorsal fin very far back.
Inhab. North Pacific, north-west coast of America, California.
5. Sibbaldius tectirostris.
Sibbaldius tectirostris, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad._ 1869, p. 7.
Inhab. North Pacific. Skeleton, Mus. Philad.
6. Sibbaldius tuberosus.
Sibbaldius tuberosus, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1867, p. ⸺.
Sibbaldius laticeps, _Cope_, _l. c._ 1866, p. 297.
Inhab. North-east coast of America.
Family 5. BALÆNOPTERIDÆ. _Pike Whales._
Balænopterina, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 114.
Balænoptera, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 114; _Lilljeborg_, _Nova Acta
Upsal._ vi.
Balænopteridæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Dorsal fin high, erect, compressed, about two-thirds of the entire length
from the nose. Pectoral fin moderate, with four short fingers. Vertebræ
50; cervical vertebræ sometimes anchylosed. Neural canal broad, trigonal.
Ribs 11·11. The second cervical vertebra with a broad lateral expansion,
perforated at the base. First rib single-headed. Lower jaw with a conical
coronoid process.
1. BALÆNOPTERA.
Balænoptera, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 114, 186; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Fabricia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 382.
The lower lateral processes of the third to the seventh cervical vertebræ
with an angular projection on the lower edges. Fingers short, the length
of the forearm-bone.
Scapula broad; acromion and coracoid elongate, slender.
1. Balænoptera rostrata.
B.M.
Balænoptera rostrata, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 188, figs. 49-53;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3, t. 1. f. 5 (baleen), t. 2
(skull), t. 32. f. 3, 4 (cervical vertebræ); _Van Beneden_,
_Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 12 & t. 13. figs. 1-10.
Inhab. North Sea.
2. Balænoptera velifera.
Balænoptera velifera, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1869, p. 18, f. 9, 10.
Dorsal fin large.
Inhab. Oregon (Finner Whale); California, Queen Charlotte’s Sound.
2. SWINHOIA.
Swinhoia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 382; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
3.
The lower lateral processes of the third to the sixth cervical vertebræ
slender, regularly curved, without any prominent angle on the lower edge.
1. Swinhoia chinensis.
B.M.
Balænoptera Swinhoei, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 382, figs. 88-93.
Swinhoia chinensis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Inhab. Formosa.
Section II. DENTICETE (_cf._ p. 35).
Denticete, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 62, 194; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Odontoceti _or_ Delphinoidea, _Flower_, _l. c._ p. 111.
Teeth well developed in one or both jaws, sometimes deciduous. Palate
without baleen. Head large or moderate, compressed. Tympanic bones two,
dissimilar, separate, becoming united, sunk in a cavity in the base of
the skull. Gullet large.
The suborders in this section have certain relations to each other by
which they may be arranged in two parallel series:—
| A. Nostrils | B. Nostrils
| separate, | united,
| elongated. | transverse.
| |
Teeth only in the lower jaw. Cervical | |
vertebræ often united | Physeteroidea. | Ziphioidea.
Teeth well developed in both jaws. | |
Jaws beaked | Susuoidea. | Delphinoidea.
Division I. _Nostrils longitudinal, parallel or diverging; each covered
with a valve_ (cf. p. 62).
Suborder III. PHYSETEROIDEA.
Physeteroidea, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 195; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 3.
Physeteridæ (Physeterinæ), _Flower_, _Tr. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi.
p. 113.
Head blunt. Nostrils longitudinal, parallel, or diverging, each covered
with a valve, the right often obliterated. Teeth many in the lower
jaw, fitting into holes in the gums of the upper one. Lachrymal bone
none distinct. “Costal cartilages not ossified. The hinder ribs losing
their tubercular and retaining their capitular articulation with the
vertebræ. The greater number of the cervical vertebræ ankylosed together.
Pterygoid bones thick, produced backwards, meeting in the middle line,
and not involuted to form the outer wall of the postpalatine air-sinus.
Symphysis of mandible of moderate or excessive length. No functional
teeth in the upper jaw. Mandibular teeth various, often much reduced in
number. Lachrymal bones usually large and distinct. Bones of the skull
raised so as to form an elevated prominence or crest behind the anterior
nares. Orbit of small or moderate size. Pectoral limbs small. Dorsal fin
usually present.”—_Flower._
Family 6. CATODONTIDÆ.
Catodontina, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 386, 387.
Catodontidæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 3.
Head compressed, truncated in front, very large. Blowers separate,
linear, in front of the upper part of the head. Mouth inferior, linear.
Pectoral fin short, broad, truncate. Dorsal hump rounded. Skull elongate.
Crown concave, surrounded by a high perpendicular wall formed by the
doubled-up maxilla and occipital bones. Upper jaw toothless. Atlas free;
rest of cervical vertebræ united by their bodies and spines into a
consolidated mass.
1. CATODON.
Catodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 196, 386, 387; Synops. Whales &
Dolph. p. 3.
Physeter, _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 309.
The atlas vertebra transverse, nearly twice as broad as high; the central
canal subtrigonal, narrow below. Skull nearly one-third the entire
length of the body. Lachrymal bone wanting. The zygomatic process is
formed of the malar bone. Vertebral column rough and rather spongy.
Vertebræ 50: 7 cervical, 11 dorsal, 8 lumbar, 24 caudal. The atlas
separate; the other 6 cervical united by their bodies and spines into one
consolidated mass, and sometimes united to the first dorsal vertebra.
The atlas subquadrangular, broader than long. The transverse process
truncated. Upper edge nearly straight, lower slightly curved. Neural
canal triangular, one of the angles directed downwards. The thyro-hyal
triangular, thick in front, thinner behind; the basihyal broad and flat.
The basihyal and thyro-hyal united. The ribs long, all but the first
slender and light. The first rib is short, broad, and very thick near
the lower end. Sternum large, triangular, the apex turned backwards. The
broad front end nearly straight, composed of two large anterior and a
small posterior piece. Pectoral limb small. Scapula higher than broad;
outer surface concave, inner convex. Acromion very large, dilated at the
end. Coracoid large, narrow, and about half the length of the acromion.
Humerus compressed. Radius and ulna not quite so long as the humerus,
often united at the ends and separate in the middle. The carpus wide
and short. The carpal bones six, nearly in a single row. The fingers
five, all well developed, the second, third, and fourth not differing
greatly in length, the fourth the shortest; the first consisting of two,
the second and third of six, the fourth of five, and the fifth of four
joints; the second finger two-thirds the length of the arm-bones.
The skull of the young animal is much shorter and broader than in the
adult (Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi. tab. 57).
1. Catodon macrocephalus.
B.M.
Catodon macrocephalus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 196 (f. 54), 202,
387; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Physeter macrocephalus, _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi.
p. 309, tab. 55 to 61, and woodcuts.
Inhab. Tropical seas, accidentally in the temperate ones.
Mr. Flower (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi.) considers _C. australis_, Gray,
_l. c._ p. 206, fig. 55, the same species; and certainly there does not
appear to be any character in the skeleton to divide them.
Maury remarks:—“The Sperm-Whale, according to the result of this chart,
appears never to double the Cape of Good Hope. It doubles Cape Horn.
Since this fish delights in warm water, shall we not expect to find off
Cape Horn an under-current of warm water heavier with its salt?”—_Maury_,
_Whale-Charts_, p. 267.
How far the species indicated range beyond the habitats whence they were
received is yet to be discovered and recorded. No doubt their range is
influenced by many local circumstances (peculiarities in the currents,
and disposition of the food) that are not easily observed or understood.
2. MEGANEURON.
Meganeuron, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 386, 387; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4.
The atlas vertebra subcircular, rather broader than high. The central
canal subcircular, in the middle of the body, widened above.
The rest of the animal not known; it is placed in _Catodontidæ_ because
this family is the only one that has the atlas separate from the cervical
vertebræ and of the simple form.
1. Meganeuron Krefftii.
Meganeuron Krefftii, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1865, p. 440; _Cat.
Seals & Whales_, p. 388, figs. 94-97; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 4.
Inhab. Australian seas.
Atlas 13 inches wide.
Family 7. PHYSETERIDÆ.
Physeterina, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 386, 390.
Physeteridæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Head depressed, rounded in front. Blowers linear (often only the one
on the left side open), at the back of the forehead. Mouth small,
inferior, rounded. Dorsal fin compressed, falcate. Pectoral fin elongate,
falcate. Skull short; crown concave; hinder part of the wall formed by
the maxillaries, and divided, as it were, into two subequal parts by a
central bony ridge, which is more or less twisted towards the right side.
Upper jaw toothless. Atlas and cervical vertebræ all united into a solid
mass.
1. PHYSETER.
Physeter, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 196, 210, 386; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4.
Head large, rather depressed in front. Skull ⸺?
Only known from Sibbald’s description, which, like his others, is very
specific; and all his other accounts of animals have been proved to be
correct.
Mr. Flower has no faith in Sibbald’s account of this animal, and says,
“If the Linnæan genus _Physeter_ is to be kept in abeyance until the
rediscovery of Sibbald’s ‘_Balæna macrocephala tripinna_,’ it is to
be feared that it may ultimately disappear altogether from zoological
literature.”—_Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 369.
1. Physeter tursio.
Physeter tursio, _Linn._, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 212; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Inhab. North Sea, Scotland (_Sibbald_, 1687). Length 52 or 53 feet.
2. KOGIA.
Kogia, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 196, 215, 386, 391; _Flower_,
_Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 114.
Head moderate, blunt and high in front; left blower only open. Skull
short and broad; the septum that divides the crown of the skull very
sinuous, folded so as to form a funnel-shaped cavity.
1. Kogia breviceps.
Kogia breviceps, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 217, 391; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 4.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
Perhaps the next is the same species.
2. Kogia Macleayii.
B.M.
Kogia Macleayii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 391; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4.
Physeter simus, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 30, t.
10, 11, 12, 13, ♀ (not skeleton, t. 11. f. 2).
Inhab. Australia, India. Length 10 feet, young.
The difference between _Kogia_ and _Euphysetes_ does not depend on the
sex of the animals. Mr. Krefft described a male, and Professor Owen a
female specimen; the latter mistook the two drawings of the same specimen
for the two sexes, deceived by certain additions surreptitiously made to
Mr. Elliot’s drawings; but the additions, especially the penis, are not
represented on the plates, and the artist (Mr. Willis) says he received
no directions to leave out any part of the drawing, and accurately copied
them. The measurements given in the paper do not agree with those in Mr.
Elliot’s notes made from the living animal; and reference to them would
have prevented all this confusion.
3. EUPHYSETES.
Euphysetes, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 196, 215, 386, 392; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Head moderate, blunt and high in front. Skull short and broad. The septum
that divides the cavity of the crown of the skull simple, longitudinal,
only slightly curved.
Vertebræ 51: cervical 7 (all united into one mass), dorsal 14, caudal 40.
Basihyal broad and flat, as in _Catodon_.
1. Euphysetes Grayii.
Euphysetes Grayii, _MacLeay_; _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 218, 392;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Physeter simus, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. t. 11. f.
2 (skeleton only).
Inhab. Australia.
Suborder IV. SUSUOIDEA.
Susuoidea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Head beaked. Nostrils longitudinal, each covered with a valve (the right
often obliterated). Teeth in upper and lower jaws, compressed. Crown of
skull covered with a bony arch. Pectoral fin broad, truncate. Fingers 4,
nearly equal, the outer the shortest.
Family 8. PLATANISTIDÆ.
Platanistidæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 62, 220; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4.
Platanistinæ, _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 114.
Head long-beaked. Jaws slender, compressed. Skull—crown covered with the
converging arch and reflexed edges of the maxillaries.
“Costal cartilages not ossified. The tubercular and capitular
articulations of the ribs blending together posteriorly. Cervical
vertebræ all free. Pterygoid bones thin, not conforming in their mode of
arrangement with either of the other sections. Jaws very long and narrow;
both with numerous teeth having compressed fangs. Symphysis of mandible
very long, exceeding half the length of the entire ramus. Orbit very
small. Lachrymal bones not distinct from the jugal. Pectoral limbs large.
Dorsal fin rudimentary. Maxillary bones supporting large bony incurved
crests. No cingulum or tubercle at the base of the crown of the teeth.
Pectoral fins truncated. Visual organs rudimentary. External respiratory
aperture longitudinal, linear.”—_Flower._
1. PLATANISTA.
Platanista, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 221; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 4.
Vertebræ 51: cervical 7, all separate; dorsal 11; lumbar 8; caudal 25.
1. Platanista gangetica.
Platanista gangetica, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 223; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p 4.
Inhab. India, Ganges.
2. Platanista Indi.
Platanista Indi, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 224; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4.
Inhab. India, Indus.
Division II. _Nostrils both united into a single central transverse or
crescent-shaped blower on the back of the crown_ (cf. p. 57).
Suborder V. DELPHINOIDEA.
Delphinoidea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4.
Nostrils two, united into a single central transverse or crescentic
blower on the back of the crown. Teeth in both jaws, permanent, or rarely
deciduous by age. Pectoral fin lanceolate, ovate, or truncated. Head
generally beaked. Dorsal fin falcate or wanting. Skull beaked; maxillary
bone spread out over the orbit.
I. _Pectoral fin elongate, obliquely truncated on the inner side. Fingers
elongate, longer than the arm-bones, unequal; the second and third much
the longest; the rest short. Forearm-bones close together, only separated
by a straight line. Carpal bones moderate, 5 or 7_ (cf. p. 85).
A. _Pectoral fin on the side of the body. Second and third fingers of six
or eight phalanges_ (cf. p. 82).
Family 9. INIIDÆ.
Iniidæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 62, 226; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 4.
Platanistidæ (Iniinæ), _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vi.
p. 114.
Fluviatile. Head beaked; beak bristly. Teeth in the jaws, rugulose,
crowns with an internal lobe; permanent. Pectoral fin large, elongate,
subfalcate. Back keeled behind, without any dorsal fin. Skull—jaw
compressed; symphysis of lower jaw elongate, extending for more than half
its length. Overlooking the form of the blower, Mr. Flower places this
genus with Platanistidæ.
Vertebræ 41. C. 7. D. 13. L. 3. C. 18. The smallest number of any
Cetacean known.
“Costal cartilages not ossified. The tubercular and capitular
articulations of the ribs blending together posteriorly. Cervical
vertebræ all free. Pterygoid bones thin, not conforming in their mode of
arrangement with either of the other sections. Jaws very long and narrow,
both with numerous teeth having compressed fangs. Symphysis of mandible
very long, exceeding half the length of the entire ramus. Orbit very
small. Lachrymal bones not distinct from the jugal. Pectoral limbs large.
Dorsal fin rudimentary.”—_Flower._
“Maxillary crests absent, or very slightly developed. Many of the teeth
with a complete cingulum or a distinct tubercle at the base of the crown.
Pectoral fin ovate, obtusely pointed.”—_Flower._
1. INIA.
Inia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 226; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 4;
_Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 87.
Cervical vertebræ free: the first with an inferior posterior process,
bifid at the end; lateral processes very short: the second with a strong
dorsal process. Dorsal vertebræ with very high dorsal processes. Scapula
very high, with very long acromion and coracoid processes. The arm-bone
short. Forearms thick and short, scarcely so long as the upper arm-bone.
Metacarpal bones seven, imbedded in cartilage. The second and third
fingers very long, with six phalanges; the first finger very short, of
two phalanges; the fourth strong, short, about as long as the first two
phalanges of the third finger, of four phalanges; the fifth finger very
short, slender, of three phalanges. The breast-bone ovate, scutate,
notched in front.
1. Inia Geoffroyii.
Inia Geoffroyii, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 226, 393; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 4; _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 87, t. 25,
26, 27 (skeleton).
Delphinus amazonicus, _Spix_, _Reise in Brasil._ t. iii. pp.
1119 and 1113, fig. 34 (bad).
Inia Geoffrensis, _D’Orbigny_, _in Ann. Mus. Paris_, vol. iii.
p. 23; _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. xxxii.
Inhab. Brazil, river Amazon.
“The number of the teeth in the different specimens of _Inia_ examined
shows a considerable range of variation, presuming that they all belong
to one species. In the one now described there are R. 26, L. 26 / R.
25, L. 27 = 104. The larger specimen in the British Museum, from Ega,
has 28-28/26-27 = 109, and also two minute rudimentary teeth in the gum
behind the last in the left maxilla. In the smaller skull from the same
place there are 29-26/28-27 = 110. In the skull in the Paris Museum,
brought by D’Orbigny, there are, according to Gervais, 33-33/33-33 =
132; but in the type specimen in the same museum, taken from Lisbon, the
number is given by De Bainville as 26-26/26-26 = 104. In the Berlin skull
the teeth are 34-32/33-32 = 131. Von Martius, in his diagnosis of the
species, gives 28-28/29-29 = 114.”—_Flower._
Family 10. DELPHINIDÆ.
Delphinidæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 228, 393; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 4; _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 113.
Head beaked. Teeth in both jaws, conical or compressed, permanent,
without any internal lobe, occupying nearly the whole length of the jaws.
Back rounded, with a falcate dorsal fin; rarely absent. Skull with the
maxilla expanded over the orbit, and more or less turned up on the edges.
“Costal cartilages firmly ossified. Posterior ribs losing their capitular
articulation, and only uniting with the transverse processes of the
vertebræ by the tubercle. Anterior (2-6) cervical, in most, ankylosed
together. Pterygoid bones short, thin, involuted to form, with a process
of the palatine bone, the outer wall of the postpalatine air-sinus.
Numerous teeth in both jaws (_Monodon_ excepted), sometimes deciduous.
Symphysis of mandible short or moderate, never exceeding one-third the
length of the ramus. Bones of the skull not raised into a distinct crest
behind the anterior nares. Orbit of moderate size. Lachrymal bones not
distinct from the jugal. Pectoral limbs varying much in form and size.
Dorsal fin usually present.”—_Flower._
Tribe I. _STENONINA._
Stenonina, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Head beaked, teeth conical. Beak of the skull elongate, slender,
compressed. Nasal triangle short. Symphysis of the lower jaw elongate.
1. STENO.
Steno, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, pp. 230, 232, 393, 394;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Beak of the skull compressed, higher than broad. Symphysis of the
lower jaw long. Marine and fluviatile. “Pectoral fin moderately long,
triangular, obtusely pointed at the end. First digit short, without any
bony phalange; the second with six, the third five, the fourth two,
and the fifth one phalange. The carpal bones all separated by broad
cartilages. Scapula oblique, truncated at the posterior angle. Acromion
broad, and coracoid rather small.”—_Flower._
a. _Skull large, solid; the beak compressed, high._
* _Teeth large, conical, about two in an inch of the length of the margin
of the jaw._
1. Steno frontatus.
B.M.
Steno frontatus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 233. n. 3; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 5, t. 21. f. 7, 8.
Beak of the skull short; the front part thick, high, and blunt. Teeth
24·24, large, two in an inch.
Inhab. Indian Ocean.
2. Steno compressus.
B.M.
Steno compressus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 233. n. 4; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 5, t. 27.
Beak of the skull elongate, compressed, attenuated in front. Teeth 26·26,
large, two in an inch (Zool. E. & T. t. 27).
Inhab. South Sea.
_Steno rostratus_ appears to belong to this section.
** _Teeth three in an inch._
3. Steno chinensis.
Delphinus chinensis, _Osbeck’s China_; _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._
p. 266.
Delphinus sinenis, _Desmarest_, _Mam._ p. 514; _Flower_,
_Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. vii. p. 151, t. 17, 18 (skeleton).
Vertebræ 51:—C. 7. D. 12. L. 10. C. 22.
Inhab. China, Canton (_Osbeck_), Formosa (_Swinhoe_).
b. _Skull small, rather spongy. Teeth small, slender, attenuated, about
four or five in an inch of the length of the margin of the jaw._
* _Beak of the skull elongate, compressed, much attenuated and acute in
front. Teeth four in an inch._
4. Steno capensis.
B.M.
Steno capensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 394. n. 4**; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
5. Steno lentiginosus.
B.M.
Steno lentiginosus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 394. n. 4**; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 5; _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 5. f.
2, 3.
Inhab. India (_W. Elliot_). Skull, B.M.
1. Steno roseiventris, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 233. no. 2.
Inhab. Moluccas. Skull not seen by me.
** _Beak of the skull short, compressed, much attenuated and acute in
front. Teeth five in an inch. Flesh-coloured. Fluviatile._ Tucuxa.
6. Steno tucuxi.
B.M.
Steno tucuxi, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 236, 394; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. Brazil, river Amazons, 1500 miles from the sea (_Bates_).
See also _S. (?) fluviatilis_ and _S. (?) pallidus_, Gray, _l. c._ p.
237; same locality, if distinct.
*** _Beak of the skull elongate, rather depressed, broad, slightly
compressed on the sides. Teeth small, five in an inch._ Stenella.
7. Steno attenuatus.
B.M.
Steno attenuatus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 235, 395; _Syn. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. India.
The beak of the skull flattened (Zool. E. & T. t. 28).
This section is nearly intermediate between _Steno_ and _Clymenia_.
8. Steno fuscus.
B.M.
Steno fuscus, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5, t. 26. f.
1.
Only known from a fœtus in spirits.
2. Steno? brevimanus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 236.
Inhab. Banda, Singapore. Teeth 36/36.
3. Steno? coronatus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 238.
Inhab. Spitzbergen (_Fréminville_). Not seen since 1806, and no remains
of it in any museum.
4. Steno? rostratus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 238.
Dauphin de Breda, _Cuvier_, _Oss. Foss._ vol v. p. 400.
Inhab. North Sea.
2. SOTALIA.
Sotalia, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 393, 401; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 6.
Dorsal fin distinct. Beak depressed, rather longer than the brain-cavity.
Teeth slender, conical. Palate flat behind. Pectoral fin ovate, obliquely
truncated at the end; hand shorter than the arm-bones. Carpal bones
small. Scapula broad. Acromion broad.
Vertebræ 55:—C. 7. D. 12. L. 14. C. 22.
Scarcely distinct from _Steno_.
1. Sotalia guianensis.
Sotalia guianensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 401; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 6.
Tursio guianensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 257.
Delphinus guianensis, _Van Beneden_, _Mém. Acad. Brux._ p. 27,
t. 2 (skeleton), tom. xvi. tab. 2. figs. 1 and 2.
Inhab. British Guiana.
Teeth 28 or 29. Pectoral fin very broad: fingers five; the index the
longest, the thumb and little finger the least developed. The caudal
vertebræ very strong. The first two of the cervical vertebræ united, the
five others separate. Sternum in three pieces.
Tribe II. DELPHININA.
Delphinina, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Head beaked. Teeth conical. Beak of the skull elongate, longer than the
brain-cavity, depressed, broad, shelving on the sides. Nasal triangle
short. Symphysis of the lower jaw very short, sloping. Dorsal fin
subcentral, rarely wanting.
a. _Beak elongate. Palate with a deep groove on each side behind._
3. DELPHINUS.
Delphinus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 230, 239, 393; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 5.
Beak elongate. Dorsal fin distinct. Teeth small, slender, five or six in
an inch. Fingers elongate, unequal; the second much the longest, 8- or
9-jointed; third elongate, about three-fourths the length; the rest short.
Fœtus and tongue figured, t. 26. f. 2 of Synops. Whales and Dolph.
* _Beak of skull twice as long as the brain-case. Teeth 55/55 or 56/56._
1. Delphinus longirostris.
B.M.
Delphinus longirostris, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 241. no. 2; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. Southern Ocean; Cape of Good Hope; Japan; Malabar.
** _Beak of skull once and a half the length of the brain-case. Teeth
45/45 to 50/50._
2. Delphinus delphis.
B.M.
Delphinus delphis, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 242 (n. 3), 396;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5; _Reinhardt_, _Vidensk. Meddel._
1866, t. 1.
Black, sides grey, beneath white.
Inhab. North Sea; North Atlantic; Mediterranean.
Vertebræ 75:—C. 7. D. 13. L. 24. C. 31.
3. Delphinus Moorei.
Delphinus Moorei, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 396, fig. 99; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. South Atlantic.
4. Delphinus major.
B.M.
Delphinus major, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 396; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. ⸺?
5. Delphinus Walkeri.
Delphinus Walkeri, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 397, fig. 100; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. South Atlantic.
Burmeister (‘Anales Mus. Buenos Ayres,’ i. p. 306) erroneously considers
it a synonym of _D. microps_, which is a _Clymenia_.
6. Delphinus Janira.
B.M.
Delphinus Janira, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 245, 398; _Zool. Ereb. &
Terror_, t. 23; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5, t. 23.
Inhab. Newfoundland.
7. Delphinus fulvifasciatus.
B.M.
Delphinus fulvifasciatus, _Pucheran_, _Voy. Dumont d’Urville,
Mamm._ t. 21. f. 1, t. 23. f. 1, 2 (skull); _Gray_, _Cat. Seals
& Whales_, p. 252.
Inhab. Van Diemen’s Land.
8. Delphinus obliquidens.
Delphinus obliquidens, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad._
1869, p. 12.
Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc.
Philad._ 1865, p. 177.
Inhab. North Pacific. Bottle-nose.
9. Delphinus pomeegra.
B.M.
Delphinus pomeegra, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 6. f. 3,
t. 8; _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 5.
Inhab. India (_W. Elliot_) Skull, Brit. Mus.
10. Delphinus Forsteri.
Delphinus Forsteri, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t.
24 (copied from _Forster’s drawing_).
Skull not known.
b. _Beak elongate. Palate flat behind, without any lateral groove._
4. CLYMENIA.
Clymene, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 249; _P. Z. S._
1864, p. 237, 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Beak of skull elongate, depressed. Teeth small, slender. Nasal triangle
moderate. Dorsal fin distinct. Pectoral fin falcate; hand larger than
the forearm-bones. Skull elongate, slender; brain-case spherical; beak
slender, elongate, longer than the brain-case; intermaxillaries convex.
Teeth small, slender, five or six in an inch. The symphysis of the lower
jaw short. The blowers are moderate.
* _Beak of the skull twice as long as the brain-case. Teeth five in an
inch._ Micropia.
1. Clymenia stenorhyncha.
B.M.
Clymene stenorhyncha, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia stenorhyncha, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Delphinus stenorhynchus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 396. n. 1*.
Delphinus microps, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 240.
** _Beak of the skull once and three-quarters the length of the
brain-cavity. Teeth six in an inch._ Euphrosyne.
2. Clymenia microps.
B.M.
Clymene microps, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia microps, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Delphinus microps, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 240, 395; _Zool.
Ereb. & Ter._ t. 25.
Inhab. Coast of Brazil.
3. Clymenia Alope.
B.M.
Clymene Alope, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia Alope, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t. 32.
Delphinus Alope, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 252, 399.
Inhab. Cape Horn.
4. Clymenia Styx.
B.M.
Delphinus Styx, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 250.
Clymenia Styx, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t. 21.
Inhab. West Africa, North Pacific.
5. Clymenia Euphrosyne.
B.M.
Clymene Euphrosyne, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia Euphrosyne, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t.
22 & t. 31.
Delphinus Euphrosyne, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 251; _Zool. Ereb. &
Ter._ t. 22.
Inhab. North Sea.
*** _Beak of the skull once and a half the length of the brain-case.
Teeth large, four in an inch._ Gadamu.
6. Clymenia gadamu.
B.M.
Clymenia gadamu, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Delphinus gadamu, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 3
(animal), & t. 4 (skull).
Inhab. India (_W. Elliot_). Two skulls, Brit. Mus.
**** _Beak of the skull once and a half or once and one-third the length
of the brain-case. Teeth five or six in an inch._ Clymenia.
7. Clymenia normalis.
B.M.
Clymene normalis, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
Clymenia normalis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Delphinus Clymene, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 249.
Beak of the skull once and a half the length of the brain-case, and as
long as twice and one-half the width at the notch. Teeth 40, nearly six
in an inch.
***** _Beak of the skull once and one-half the length of the brain-case,
and as long as twice and a half the width at the notch. Teeth five in an
inch._
8. Clymenia Doris.
B.M.
Tursio Doris, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 255; _Zool. Ereb. & Ter._ t.
20.
Clymenia Doris, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t. 20.
Clymene Doris, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 214.
9. Clymenia euphrosynoides.
B.M.
Clymenia euphrosynoides, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Delphinus Euphrosyne, _Gray_, _l. c._ t. 31 (skull); _Owen_,
_Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 8. f. 5.
****** _Beak of the skull once and one-third the length of the brain-case,
and as long as twice and one-third the width at the notch. Teeth five
in an inch._
10. Clymenia dorides.
B.M.
Tursio dorides, _Gray_, _Cat. S. &. W._ p. 400.
Clymene dorides, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215.
Clymenia dorides, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Inhab. ⸺?
******* _Beak of the skull once and one-sixth the length of the brain-case,
and as long as twice and one-half the width at the notch. Teeth five or
six in an inch. The aperture of the blower large._
11. Clymenia obscura. (Fig. 3.)
B.M.
Tursio obscurus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 264, 400; _Zool. E.
& T._ t. 16.
Clymene obscura, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215, 1868, p. 147,
fig. 1.
Clymenia obscura, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6, t. 16
(skull).
Inhab. South Pacific.
[Illustration: Pterygoid bones and hinder nasal opening of skull.
Fig. 3. _Clymenia obscura._
Fig. 4. _Clymenia similis._]
12. Clymenia similis. (Fig. 4.)
B.M.
Clymene similis, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 147, fig. 2.
Clymenia similis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Skull like _C. obscura_, but palate contracted behind; side of pterygoid
bone keeled.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
******** ⸺?
13. Clymenia crotaphiscus.
Clymenia crotaphiscus, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad._
1865, p. 13.
Supraoccipital rounded in profile; diameter of temporal fossa shorter
than the preorbital process; beak very flat, two and a half times the
breadth at notch; a keel in front of the nasal meatus.
Inhab. Unknown.
14. Clymenia esthenops.
Clymenia esthenops, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad._ 1865,
p. 12.
Outline from foramen to crest curved; cranium rounded; temporal fossa
much longer than the postorbital process; width of the muzzle at notch
two and a half times or less in the length.
Inhab. Unknown.
_Var._ Width of muzzle at notch nearly three times in the length;
triangle long.
Inhab. Unknown.
5. DELPHINAPTERUS.
Delphinapterus, _Gray_, _Cat, Seals & Whales,_ p, 276; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
Beak of skull elongate, depressed. Teeth small, slender. Dorsal fin none.
Bladebone very broad, nearly semicircular.
1. Delphinapterus Peronii.
Delphinapterus Peronii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 276; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 6, t. 15 (animal).
Inhab. South Atlantic, New Guinea.
c. _Beak short, thick. Palate flat behind, without any lateral groove._
6. TURSIO.
Tursio, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 254, 400; _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 6.
_Beak of the skull only rather longer than the brain-case, conical,
convex above, rounded. Teeth large. Skull high. The skull large, thick,
heavy, with a high swollen brain-cavity._ The beak rather longer than the
brain-case, broad, conical, stout, shelving on the sides. Teeth large,
22/22 or 22/25. The blower large. Nasal triangle produced considerably
before the notch.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Skull of _Tursio truncatus_ (♂), adult.
Fig. 6. Under surface of the upper jaw, showing the worn surface.]
Vertebræ 62:—C. 7. D. 13. L. 17. C. 25.
Second finger very long; third shorter. Breast-bone formed of three
pieces, linear, dilated in front.
1. Tursio truncatus. (Figs. 5 & 6.)
B.M.
Tursio truncatus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 258, 400. no. 6; _P. Z.
S._ 1866, p. 215, 1868, p. 561, figs. 1, 2; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 6, (D. tursio) t. 10. f. 1.
Tursiops tursio, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 34. figs. 3-9.
Inhab. North Sea and Mediterranean. Coast of France and Cette (_Gervais_).
2. Tursio erebennus.
Delphinus erebennus, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad._
Delphinus tursio, _Cope_, _l. c._ 1865, p. 199.
Teeth. 23/22; premaxillaries forming an elevated rounded ridge.
Inhab. Philadelphia.
3. Tursio Metis.
B.M.
Tursio Metis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 256. no. 3; _Zool. Ereb. &
Ter._ t. 18; _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215, 1868, p. 362; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 18.
Inhab. West Africa.
4. Tursio Cymodoce.
B.M.
Tursio Cymodoce, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 257. no. 4; _Zool. Ereb. &
Ter._ t. 19; _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 7, t. 19.
Inhab. River Uragua. Mus. Buenos Ayres.
5. Tursio abusalam.
Tursio abusalam, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 261. no. 7.
Tursiops aduncus, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 34. figs. 1 & 2.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope (_Gervais_); Red Sea (_Ehrenberg_).
Rather larger than _Tursiops tursio_. Teeth acute.
6. Tursio Eurynome.
B.M.
Tursio Eurynome, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 261. no. 8; _Zool. Ereb. &
Ter._ t. 17; _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 7, t. 17.
Inhab. South Sea; India?, Bay of Bengal.
7. Tursio catalania.
B.M.
Tursio catalania, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 262. no. 10; _P. Z. S._
1866, p. 215; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Inhab. North-west coast of Australia.
These skulls are all very much alike.
7. EUTROPIA.
Eutropia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 262; _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Beak of the skull only rather longer than the brain-case. Skull
depressed, thick, with the sides rather bent down behind the notch. The
beak depressed, broad, rounded on the sides, rather longer than the
length of the brain-case; the intermaxillaries flat, rather broad. Teeth
small, slender, five or six in an inch.
The skull bears a considerable affinity to the skulls of _Phocæna_,
_Neomeris_, _Beluga_, and _Monodon_ in the bending down of the sides.
1. Eutropia Dickiei.
B.M.
Eutropia Dickiei, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 34.
Tursio Eutropia, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1862, p. 145; _Cat. S. &
W._ p. 262, no. 9.
Inhab. South Pacific Ocean, Chili.
2. Eutropia Heavisidii.
B.M.
Eutropia Heavisidii, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 215; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Tursio Heavisidii, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 263.
Cephalorhynchus Heavisidii, _Gervais_, _Ost. Cét._ tab. 36.
fig. 1 (skull).
Inhab. Cape seas.
Vertebræ 65:—C. 7. D. 13. L. 15. C. 30.
The _D. cephalorhynchus_ of F. Cuvier, judging from the figure of the
skull given by Schlegel, appears also to belong to this genus.
See _Stigmatias_ (_Amblyodon_), Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1866,
p. 294.
Tribe III. LAGENORHYNCHINA.
Lagenorhynchus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 267; _Gervais_,
_Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 36.
Lagenorhynchina, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Head attenuated, beaked. Teeth conical. Beak of the skull as long as the
length of the brain-case, broad, flat above, edges slightly reflexed and
bent up in front of the notch. Nasal triangle elongate. Symphysis of the
lower jaw short.
8. ELECTRA.
Electra, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 268; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 7.
The beak of the skull very flat above, with the edges in front of the
notches bent up. Teeth-line stopping considerably short of the notch.
* _Beak of the skull rather longer (about one-third) than the length of
the brain-case. Teeth moderate, four in an inch, those of the lower jaw
rather larger._
1. Electra obtusa.
B.M.
Lagenorhynchus Electra, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 268; _P. Z. S._
1866, p. 216; _Zool. E. & T._ t. 13.
Electra obtusa, _Gray_, _Synopsis of Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t.
13 (skull).
Beak tapering, rounded in front.
Inhab. ⸺?
2. Electra Asia.
B.M.
Lagenorhynchus Asia, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 269. no. 3; _Zool. E. &
T._ t. 14; _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ tab. 36. fig. 6.
Electra Asia, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 14
(skull).
Beak attenuated, acute in front.
Inhab. ⸺?
3. Electra fusiformis.
B.M.
Electra fusiformis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Delphinus fusiformis, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 5. f.
1, t. 7 (skull).
Beak broad, and rounded in front.
Inhab. India (_W. Elliot_). B.M.
4. Electra acuta.
Electra acuta, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7.
Lagenorhynchus acutus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 270. no. 4.
Delphinus Eschrichti, _Poelman_, _Ac. Roy. Belgique_, 1864,
vol. xvii. t. 1.
Inhab. North Sea.
According to Schlegel’s figure of the skull, it should be arranged in
this section.
5. Electra breviceps.
Lagenorhynchus breviceps, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ tab. 36.
fig. 3.
Inhab. ⸺?
** _Beak of the skull rather shorter than the length of the brain-cavity.
Teeth small, five or six in an inch._
6. Electra clancula.
B.M.
Electra clancula, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 35.
Lagenorhynchus clanculus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 271. no. 5;
_Hector_, _Trans. New-Zealand Instit._ 1870, p. 27.
Beak of the skull broad behind, once and three-fourths the width of the
notch in length. Teeth five in an inch.
Inhab. South Pacific Ocean.
In the Museum of Wellington, New Zealand, a complete skeleton.
ft. in.
Total length 5 1·0
Cervical vertebræ seven, anchylosed 0 1·3
Dorsals fourteen 0 11·5
Lumbar and caudal forty-eight, thirty-four of which have processes, and
may be considered lumbars.
in.
Skull:—
Length, total 14·0
Length of beak 7·5
Width at notch 3·5
Width at orbits 6·0
Width of intermaxillary at blow-hole 2·7
Width at middle of beak 2·5
Height of occiput 5·7
Length of flappers 12·0
Scapula, transverse diameter 4·5
Scapula, longitudinal diameter 6·5
This specimen was harpooned outside Wellington Harbour, and appears to be
the common Dolphin of the coast.
Lower jaws of two others.
7. Electra crucigera.
Lagenorhynchus cruciger, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 36.
fig. 3.
8. Electra thicolea.
B.M.
Electra thicolea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 36.
Lagenorhynchus thicolea, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 271. no. 7.
Beak of the skull narrow behind, twice as long as the width at the notch.
Teeth small, six in an inch.
Inhab. West coast of North America.
9. FERESA.
Orca (Feresa), _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 77.
The beak of the skull from the notch rather shorter than from the notch
to the condyle, depressed, flat above, gradually tapering in front; the
width at the notch two-thirds of the entire length of the beak. Lower jaw
slender, narrow and thin in front, teeth not reaching the notch.
This reexamination has convinced me, and also, I believe, Mr. Flower,
that the skull described under the name of _Orca intermedia_ belongs to
a very small species, and is not “the skull of a very young individual,
probably of one of the large species,” as Mr. Flower supposed, apparently
from the examination of the figure (see Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 425).
Indeed, when the animal is known, I should not be at all astonished if
it should prove to be a species of _Electra_ rather than of _Orca_, or
perhaps a new genus.
This skull has many resemblances to those of some of the species of
_Electra_; the teeth are much smaller than those of _Orca_.
1. Feresa intermedia.
B.M.
Orca intermedia, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 283; _Zool.
Erebus and Terror_, p. 34, tab. 8 (skull); _P. Z. S._ 1870, p.
77.
Inhab. ⸺?
This is the skull of a full-grown animal, and yet it is not so large as
the skull of a newly born specimen of _Orca_. Mr. Flower, judging from
the figure, believed it to be the skull of a very young animal; but on
examining the skull along with me he became satisfied, from the solidity
and definite form of the bones, that it is the skull of a full-grown
though not aged specimen.
10. LEUCOPLEURUS.
Leucopleurus, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 216; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 7.
Beak of the skull rather flat above and elongate, bent up on the edge in
front of the notch, narrow behind, as long as, or slightly longer than,
the length of the brain-case. Teeth-line reaching nearly to the notch.
Teeth small, five in an inch. First and second cervical vertebræ united
by their bodies, third and fourth by the spinous processes.
Vertebræ 81:—C. 7. D. 15. L. and C. 59.
1. Leucopleurus arcticus.
B.M.
Leucopleurus arcticus, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7,
t. 6. f. 3-5 (fœtus), t. 12 (skull), t. 26. f. 3 (tongue).
Lagenorhynchus leucopleurus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 273. no.
9; _Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 36. fig. 4.
Beak of the skull twice as long as the width at the notch. Teeth small,
five in an inch.
Inhab. North Sea.
11. LAGENORHYNCHUS.
Lagenorhynchus, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 216; _Cat. S. & W._
p. 272; _Synops. Whales &. Dolph._ p. 7.
Beak of the skull rather flat above, bent up on the edges in front of the
notch, deep, broad behind, rather shorter than the length of brain-case.
Teeth-line reaching nearly to the notch, large, three in an inch. First
and second cervical vertebræ united by their bodies; the third, fourth,
fifth, sixth, and seventh free.
Vertebræ 88:—C. 7. D. 14. L. and C. 67.
1. Lagenorhynchus albirostris.
B.M.
Lagenorhynchus albirostris, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 272. no.
8; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 8, t. 10. f. 2, t. 11 (skull);
_Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 36. fig. 5.
The beak of the skull once and one-half as long as the width at the notch.
Inhab. North Sea, Yarmouth.
Tribe IV. _PSEUDORCAINA._
Head rounded in front, very convex, not beaked. Teeth conical. Beak of
the skull depressed, broad, scarcely so long as the brain-cavity.
12. PSEUDORCA.
Pseudorca, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 8.
Head rounded, convex; body moderate; dorsal fin moderate, in the centre
of the back; arm-bones very short and thick, the humerus rather the
shortest.
Triangle in front of the blowers flat. Teeth large, conical, acute,
permanent. Pectoral fin falcate. Arm-bone short, broad. Metacarpal
bones five, close together. Fingers very unequal, second and third much
longer than the rest, six- or seven-jointed; first finger very short,
two-jointed; third finger short, four-jointed, rather longer than the
first two joints of the third finger. Tooth-line of the upper jaw
nearly to the notch; of the lower jaw rather shorter. Lower jaw strong.
Symphysis short, about as long as the space occupied by the first four
teeth. Teeth large, conical, simple.
Vertebræ 50:—C. 7. D. 10. L. 9. C. 24.
The first to the sixth cervical vertebræ united by their bodies and
dorsal processes. Bladebone broad, with large coracoid and acromion
processes, which are much nearer together than usual.
* _Beak blunt, truncated in front._ Pseudorca.
1. Pseudorca crassidens.
Pseudorca crassidens, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 290. no. 1;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 8; _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t.
50. f. 7-17.
Beak about two-thirds the length of the brain-cavity, broad, rather
tapering on the sides, truncated in front; teeth 8.
Inhab. North Sea.
** _Beak narrow, tapering, and rounded in front._ Neoorca.
2. Pseudorca meridionalis.
B.M.
Pseudorca meridionalis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 291. no. 2, figs.
58, 59; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 8; _Gervais_, _Ostéogr.
Cét._ t. 50.
Beak as long as the brain-cavity, tapering on the side, and rounded in
front. Teeth 8.
Inhab. Van Diemen’s Land.
13. ORCAELLA.
Orcaella, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 285; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
7.
Head blunt, rounded, very convex. Body moderate. Dorsal fin moderate,
more or less behind the middle of the back; the pectoral fin broad.
Skull:—brain-case subglobular; beak very short, two-thirds the length
of the brain-case, tapering, flat above. Intermaxillary half as wide as
beak. Teeth small, conical, 12·12 / 12·12 or 14·14 / 14·14.
1. Orcaella brevirostris.
B.M.
Orcaella brevirostris, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 285; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 7; _Anderson’s Icon. ined._ (animal and skull).
Phocæna brevirostris, _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. t. 9.
Globiocephalus indicus (part.), _Blyth_.
Black; body stout; dorsal fin subcentral.
Inhab. Estuaries of the Ganges (_Dr. Anderson_); Madras (_Elliot_).
2. Orcaella fluminalis.
Orcaella fluminalis, _Anderson’s MS. & Icon. ined._
Dolphin of the Irawady, _Anderson_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, pp. 220,
544.
“Body slender, dirty white; dorsal fin more posterior.”
Inhab. River Irawady, deep channels, from 300 to 1000 miles from the sea
(_Dr. Anderson_).
Tribe V. PHOCÆNINA.
Lateral wings of the maxilla shelving down over the orbit. Triangle in
front of the blower convex. Teeth compressed.
14. PHOCÆNA.
Phocæna, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 301; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Dorsal fin distinct, in the middle of the back, with a series of small
spines on the upper part of its front edge. Teeth all compressed,
truncate.
Vertebræ 64 to 66:—C. 7. D. 13. L. and C. 44 to 46.
1. Phocæna communis.
Phocæna communis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 302; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Var.? Phocæna tuberculifera, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 304.
Inhab. North Sea.
1. Phocæna brachycium, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Phil._ 1865,
p. 6; 1869, p. 28.
Inhab. Harbour of Salem.
2. Phocæna vomerina, _Gill_, _Proc. Acad. N. S. Philad._ 1865;
_Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. S. Philad._ 1869, p. 13.
Inhab. North Pacific. The Bay Porpoise.
15. ACANTHODELPHIS.
Acanthodelphis, _Gray_, _l. c._ 304; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 8.
Dorsal fin distinct, rather behind the middle of the back. Back, in front
of the dorsal fin, with a single, and the upper part of the front edge
of the dorsal fin with three series of oblong keeled tubercles. Teeth
compressed, front one rather conical.
1. Acanthodelphis spinipinnis.
Acanthodelphis spinipinnis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 304; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 8.
Phocæna spinipinnis, _Burmeister_, _Anales Mus. Buenos Ayres_,
vol. i. t. 23 (animal), 24 (skull).
Inhab. Coast of Brazil.
16. NEOMERIS.
Neomeris, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 306; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
8.
Dorsal fin none. Head rounded. Teeth compressed, slightly notched in
the middle of the crown. Pectoral fin ovate-falcate. The blade bone
triangular, with a large coracoid and acromion process. The forearm-bones
close together, linear. Metacarpal bones five, large. The hand rather
large; the second and third fingers elongate, nearly equal, as long as
the arm-bones, the fourth finger shorter, the first shorter, and the
fifth very short.
Vertebræ 63:—C. 7. D. 13. L. and C. 43.
1. Neomeris phocænoides.
Neomeris phocænoides, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 306; _Synops, Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
“Delphinapterus molagan,” _Owen_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p.
24, a name given to a manuscript note of Mr. Elliot’s!
Inhab. Indian Ocean; Bengal; Cape of Good Hope; Japan.
Schlegel (Fauna Japonica, Mammalia, tab. v.) gives a detailed figure of
the skull, the dorsal vertebræ, the chest-bone, and the fore limb of this
animal.
B. _Pectoral fin low down on the side of the body. The second and third
fingers very long, of nine or twelve phalanges_ (cf. p. 63).
Family 11. GRAMPIDÆ.
Head rounded; forehead rather convex. Teeth conical; of upper jaw early
deciduous, of lower jaw only in the front over the short symphysis.
Dorsal fin low, rather behind the middle of the back. Pectoral fins
ovate, elongate. Skull depressed, with the lateral expansions horizontal,
rather thickened and bent up over the orbit and slightly dilated and
bent down over the notch. Intermaxillaries dilated, swollen in front of
the blower. Atlas free; rest of cervical vertebræ and dorsal processes
united. The arm-bones short. Two middle fingers elongated, subequal, of
eight or nine phalanges; the other fingers very short, of two or three
phalanges. The breast-bone single, broad in front.
1. GRAMPUS.
Grampus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 230, 295, 393; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
† _Triangle in front of the blowers elongate, produced in front over the
vomer. Bladebone triangular, the height about two-thirds the width. Beak
of skull narrow, more contracted for two-thirds of its length._
1. Grampus Rissoanus.
Grampus Rissoanus, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 298;
_Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 54. figs. 1-6; _Murie_, _Journ.
Anat. & Physiol._ 1870, v. p. 129, t. 5 (good).
Beak of skull rather broad or gradually tapering towards the front;
intermaxillaries rather broad; bladebone triangular, the height
three-fourths the width.
Inhab. Nice.
2. Grampus Cuvieri.
B.M.
Grampus Cuvieri, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 295, fig. 60; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Grampus griseus, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 54. figs. 1-6.
Inhab. North Sea, Hampshire.
†† _Triangle in front of the blowers short, broad._
3. Grampus Richardsonii.
Grampus Richardsonii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 299; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope.
Family 12. GLOBIOCEPHALIDÆ.
Globiocephalidæ, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 62, 313; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Head blunt, very much swollen. Teeth in the front part of both jaws,
cylindrical, simple; symphysis very short, shorter than the tooth-line.
Dorsal fin falcate. Pectoral fin low down on the sides of the body;
fingers elongate, many-jointed. Atlas and the rest of cervical vertebræ
united, or the hinder one free. Scapula triangular, with large coracoid
and acromion processes. Arm-bones very short. Metacarpal bones in
cartilage. The two middle fingers very long, of twelve to ten joints;
the rest of the fingers short, of three or four phalanges; index finger
short, slender, four-jointed; ring-finger shorter, three-jointed; little
finger very short, of one phalange. Breast-bone of three separate pierced
pieces; the hinder one narrow.
1. GLOBIOCEPHALUS.
Globiocephalus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 313; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Skull:—palate flat; beak rather tapering in front. First to sixth
cervical vertebræ anchylosed into one mass, seventh free.
Vertebræ 58 or 59:—C. 7. D. 11. L. and C. 40 or 41.
* _Black, with a white streak beneath._
1. Globiocephalus svineval.
B.M.
Globiocephalus svineval, _Gray_, _l. c._ 314; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Inhab. North Sea, coast of England. The Pilot Whale.
1. Globiocephalus melas, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 51.
Delphinus globiceps, _Risso_, _Europe Mérid._ vol. iii. f. 1.
Inhab. Mediterranean.
2. Globiocephalus affinis, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 317.
Inhab. North Sea.
3. Globiocephalus intermedius, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 318.
Globiocephalus, n. sp., _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Phil._
1865, p. 7.
Inhab. Delaware Bay. Teeth six above.
4. Globiocephalus Edwardsii, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 320.
Inhab. South Sea. Cape of Good Hope.
5. Globiocephalus guadaloupensis.
Globiocephalus intermedius, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t.
(skull).
Globiocephalus intermedius (part.), _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p.
319.
Inhab. Guadaloupe. Mus. Paris.
2. Globiocephalus Grayi.
Globiocephalus Grayi, _Burmeister_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1868,
i. p. 52, t. 2. f. 2, 3; _Anales Mus. Buenos Ayres_; _Gray_,
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Inhab. Buenos Ayres.
** _Black, or only slightly paler beneath._
3. Globiocephalus macrorhynchus.
B.M.
Globiocephalus macrorhynchus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 320; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 9; _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 52. f. 4;
_Hector_, _Trans. New-Zealand Instit._ 1870, p. 38.
Inhab. South Sea. New Zealand (_Gervais_).
“Two skulls in the Colonial Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, one in
longitudinal section; one lower jaw; six cervical, four lumbar, thirteen
caudal vertebræ; two scapulæ; two hyoids. Both skulls are of the same
dimensions:—
inches.
“Length 26
Length of nose 15
Length of tooth-series 8
Length of lower jaw 15
(This is of a different individual.)
Width at notch 11
Width at orbit 17
Width of intermaxillary at blow-hole 7·5
Width at middle of nose 9·5
Height of occiput 14
Scapula, transverse diameter 15
Scapula, longitudinal diameter 12
“Hyoid arch 11 inches wide by 7 inches high.
“Sternum 10 × 7 inches—with three sternal ribs, each 7 inches long.
“The first rib is 10 inches from head to tip, but is bent with an arch of
5 inches.
“The atlas, axis, and three other cervicals are anchylosed. The compound
cervicals have a conjoined length of 4 inches. Vertical diameter of
foramen magnum 2½ inches. Conjoined length of the four lumbers 8 inches;
height, including spinous processes, 8·5 inches. Caudal apparatus,
of thirteen segments, 16 inches; two of these are anchylosed. Teeth
9-9/8-8”.—_Hector._
6. Globiocephalus Scammonii, _Cope_, _Proc. Ac. N. S. Philad._
1869, p. 11.
Black above and below.
Inhab. North Pacific.
7. Globiocephalus australis.
Inhab. Coast of Australia. In Museum of Sydney.
8. Globiocephalus indicus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 322.
Inhab. Bay of Bengal. Black fish.
9. Globiocephalus Sieboldii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 323.
Inhab. Japan.
10. Globiocephalus chinensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 323.
Inhab. China.
11. Globiocephalus sibo, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 323 (_sub_ G.
Sieboldii).
Inhab. Japan. Called “Sibo golo.” Purple, with a white spot behind the
dorsal fin.
2. SPHÆROCEPHALUS.
Sphærocephalus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 323; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
Palate of the skull convex, shelving on the sides. Beak oblong, of nearly
the same width the greater part of its length.
1. Sphærocephalus incrassatus.
B.M.
Sphærocephalus incrassatus, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 324, figs. 63 &
64; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Inhab. British Channel, Bridport.
II. _Pectoral fin broad, rounded or truncated at the end; hand shorter
than the arm-bones; second finger the longest, the rest gradually
shorter; phalanges of the second finger six or eight_ (cf. p. 63).
Family 13. ORCADÆ.
Orca, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 278; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Head rounded, scarcely beaked. Dorsal fin falcate. Skull heavy; wings of
sides expanded; beak short, broad; triangle in front of the blowers flat.
Lower jaw thick in front; symphysis short. Teeth large.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.
_Orca stenorhyncha._]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.
_Orca capensis._]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.
_Orca stenorhyncha._]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.
_Orca capensis._]
Vertebræ 51 or 52:—C. 7. D. 11 or 12. L. and C. 33.
The first three cervical vertebræ united into one mass by their bodies
and dorsal processes, the rest more or less free. Pectoral fin broad and
rounded at the end. “Carpal bone single, in a large mass of cartilage.”
1. ORCA.
Orca, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 70.
Beak of the skull from the notch before the orbit the same length as
from the notch to the condyles; the width at the notch three-fifths of
the length of the beak. The occipital end of the skull slightly concave.
Condyles of moderate size. Lower jaw broad on the sides, very thick and
solid in front.
A. _The beak of the skull tapering and narrow in front, end narrow._
Gladiator.
1. Orca stenorhyncha. (Figs. 7 & 9.)
B.M.
Orca stenorhyncha, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 71, figs. 1 & 3
(skull).
Orca gladiator, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 279.
Inhab. North Sea. Skeleton from Weymouth, and a skull from the English
coast. B.M.
Intermaxillaries narrow in the middle and rather dilated in front; but
the extent of dilatation varies in the two specimens.
The examination of the four skulls of _Orca_ found on the English coast
show they belong to two very distinct species, one with a much more
attenuated beak than the other.
B. _Beak of the skull spatulate; sides of the hinder half nearly
parallel, of the front half arched and converging; end rounded, middle
rather wider than at the notch._ Orca.
2. Orca capensis. (Figs. 8 & 10.)
B.M.
Orca capensis, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 283; P. Z. S.
1870, p. 71, figs. 2 & 4.
Delphinus orca, _Owen_.
Grampus gladiator, _Smith_, _South-African Zool._ p. 126.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope (_Viney_, B.M.; _Villette_, Mus. Coll. Surg. no.
1139); Seychelles Islands (_Swinburne Ward_).
In the Cape specimen the intermaxillaries are nearly of the same width in
the whole of their length; in the Seychelles skull they are contracted in
the greater part of their length, and rather dilated in front.
Mr. Swinburne Ward has kindly sent a very beautiful skull of a “Killer”
taken in the sea near the Seychelle Islands.
To determine this skull I have been induced to compare the skulls of the
genus in the British Museum, which it is very necessary to do from time
to time, as specimens gradually accumulate, and often arrive when I am
occupied on other subjects, and consequently are put aside for future
examination.
In this examination I have observed that in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and
Whales’ I have confounded with the skull described under the name of
_Orca capensis_ one from the North Pacific, the former being the true
_Orca capensis_, and the skull now received from the Seychelles Islands
being of the same species.
The skull figured in the ‘Zoology of the Erebus and Terror’ under the
name of _O. capensis_ is from a specimen received from the Zoological
Society, to which it was presented by Capt. Delville, who said he
obtained it in the North Pacific (?). It is quite a different species,
for which I propose the name of _Orca pacifica_. I doubt its being from
the _North_ Pacific, as I believe there is a skull of the same species
in the Paris Museum, collected by M. Eydoux, and said to have come from
Chili.
3. Orca africana.
Orca gladiator, var. australis, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t.
47. f. 2.
Inhab. Algoa Bay.
Skull much smaller, 24 inches long.
4. Orca latirostris.
B.M.
Orca latirostris, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 76.
Orca gladiator, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 48. f. 2, 3.
Delphinus orca, _Cuv._ _Oss. Foss._ v. tab. 22. fig. 4 (skull).
The skull very similar to that of the Cape species, but much smaller;
but the beak is rather narrower, the intermaxillaries moderately broad,
slightly dilated in front.
Inhab. North Sea.
An adult skull from the coast of Essex (361 _a_), and another without the
lower jaw, are in the British Museum.
These skulls of the smaller British, or, rather, European _Orca_ are
distinguishable from those of _O. gladiator_ by the smaller size and
the broader, rounder nose—and from the skulls of the Cape-of-Good-Hope
species by being of a much smaller species, and having a depressed crown
of the head.
I believe the skull figured under the name of _Delphinus orca_ by Cuvier,
Oss. Foss. vol. v. tab. 22. figs. 3, 4, represents this species, from the
form of the beak and the narrowness of the occiput: this figure has been
copied by various British and other authors.
1. Orca gladiator, var. arcticus (O. Eschrichtii), _Gervais_,
_Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 47. fig. 3.
Inhab. Faroe Islands.
2. Orca gladiator, var. europæus, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t.
47. f. 4.
Orca gladiator, _Gervais_, _l. c._ t. 48. f. 1.
Inhab. the Atlantic.
Skull about 40 inches long.
3. Orca gladiator, var. europæus, _Van Beneden & Gervais_,
_Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 47. f. 5.
Delphinus orca, _Gervais_, _Zool. et Paléont. Française_, t.
37. f. 3, 4.
Inhab. Mediterranean, Cette.
Skull about 22 inches long. It is about the same size as the _Orca_ from
Algoa Bay; but the brain-cavity is rather broader and the beak is not so
acute in front.
Gervais, in the ‘Zoology and Paleontology of France,’ figures the skull
of a young _Delphinus orca_, taken on the coast of Cette, which is now
in the Museum of Paris. It appears to belong to this species; or it
may be that the _Orca_ of the Mediterranean does not grow to the usual
size; or, again, it may be of a different species; for the skull is only
fifty-eight centimetres long and thirty broad.
5. Orca magellanica.
Orca magellanica, _Burmeister_, _Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist._ ser.
3. xviii. p. 101, t. 9. f. 5; _An. Mus. Publ. de Buenos Ayres_,
i. p. 373, tab. 22; _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 8; _P.
Z. S._ 1870, p. 76.
Inhab. Patagonia. Mus. Buenos Ayres.
This species, according to the figure, is very like _Orca latirostris_.
6. Orca tasmanica.
Orca gladiator, var. australis, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t.
47. fig. 1.
Inhab. Tasmania. Skull about 32 inches long.
7. Orca rectipinna.
Orca rectipinna, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._ 1869,
p. 12.
No white spot behind eye.
Inhab. California.
8. Orca atra.
Orca ater, _Cope_, _l. c._ 1869, p. 12.
Black above and below, with white spot behind eye.
Inhab. Oregon, Aleutian Islands.
The following are the measurements of the different skulls of the genus
in the collection of the British Museum; they were carefully taken with
calipers by Mr. Edward Gerrard.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| _O. intermedia._|
| _O. pacifica._| |
| _O. latirostris._| | |
| _O. capensis._| | | |
| _O. stenorhyncha._| | | | |
+---------------------+---------------+---------+-------+-------+-------+
| | 361 | 361 | 1065 | 361 | 1065 | 362 |
| | _b_. | _c_. |_b_, _c_.| _a_. | _a_. | _a_. |
| |in. |in. | in. |in. |in. |in. |
| | lin.| lin.| lin.| lin.| lin.| lin.|
|Length from end of | | | | | | |
| nasal to centre of | | | | | | |
| occipital condyle | 35 0 | 37 0 | 39 0 | 33 0 | 36 6 | 14 0 |
|Length | | | | | | |
| of nose | 17 6 | 18 6 | 22 6 | 17 0 | 18 0 | 7 0 |
| of tooth-line | 13 6 | 14 0 | 16 0 | 13 0 | 14 6 | 4 9 |
| of lower jaw | 27 6 | 30 0 | 31 0 | 26 0 | 29 6 | 11 3 |
|Breadth | | | | | | |
| at the notch | 10 6 | 11 0 | 12 0 | 10 0 | 12 6 | 4 9 |
| at the orbit | 18 0 | 19 6 | 20 0 | 18 0 | 21 0 | 8 6 |
| at temple above | 18 0 | 19 6 | 20 0 | 18 0 | 20 0 | 9 0 |
| at middle of beak | 9 0 | 10 0 | 11 0 | 9 6 | 10 0 | 3 6 |
| at intermaxillaries| 3 3 | 3 3 | 4 6 | 3 3 | 3 6 | 0 9 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+---------+-------+-------+-------+
2. OPHYSIA.
Ophysia, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 76; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 8.
Skull:—beak from the notch before the orbit the same length as from the
notch to the condyle; width at the notch two-thirds the entire length
of the beak. Intermaxillaries very narrow, slightly dilated in front;
brain-cavity broad; occiput deeply concave. Lower jaw very broad on the
sides, very thick and solid in front.
1. Ophysia pacifica.
B.M.
Ophysia pacifica, _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 76.
Delphinus globiceps, _Grant_, _P. Z. S._ 1833, p. 65.
Delphinus orca, _Eydoux_, _Mus. Paris_.
Orca capensis, _Gray_, _Zool. Ereb. & Terr._ p. 34, tab. 9, not
_Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 283; _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t.
48. fig. 1.
Orca (Ophysia) capensis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p.
8, tab. 9 (skull).
Inhab. North Pacific (_Capt. Delville, R.N._).
Skull, from the Zoological Society’s collection.
Family 14. BELUGIDÆ.
Beluginæ, _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 115.
Head rounded in front. Teeth in both jaws more or less early deciduous,
rarely wanting or, rather, not developed. Back without any dorsal fin.
Pectoral fin small, ovate. Skull with the lateral expansion of the
maxilla over the orbit, and the side of the beak, shelving downwards.
Fingers short; index and middle fingers nearly the same length, the rest
rather shorter; phalanges 2, 5, 6, 4, 3. Cervical vertebræ generally
free; the second with a large dorsal process.
“The Narwhal and the _Beluga_ appear to separate themselves from all
the rest, by certain well-marked structural conditions, especially the
characters of the cervical vertebræ. As these two animals are in almost
every part of their skeleton nearly identical, even to the number of
the vertebræ and phalanges, I am disposed to look upon the exceptional
dentition of the former as an aberration of secondary importance, and to
unite the two genera into a distinct subfamily, placing it next to the
Platanistidæ.”—_Flower_, _l. c._ p. 114.
1. BELUGA.
Beluga, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 231, 306, 393; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Lateral wing of the maxilla over the orbit shelving downward. Teeth
conical in both jaws, early deciduous. Male without any spiral horn-like
tooth. Fingers short. Metacarpal bones surrounded with cartilage.
Bladebone with large coracoid and acromion processes. Second cervical
vertebra with a large dorsal process.
Vertebræ 50:—C. 7. D. 10. L. and C. 33.
1. Beluga catodon.
B.M.
Beluga catodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 307, fig. 61; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 9, tab. 29. f. 3 (tongue).
Delphinus canadensis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ t. 5
(head false, with beak).
Beluga albicans, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 44. f. 1-5.
Delphinapterus, _Lucas_, _Vidensk. Selsk. Skr._ Række 5, Band
ix. tab. 8 (skull and teeth, showing how they are worn).
Inhab. North Sea, mouths of rivers.
1. Beluga rhinodon, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1865, p. 5, 1869, p. 13, fig. 1.
Inhab. Arctic seas.
2. Beluga declivis, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1865, p. 5, 1869, p. 14.
Inhab. Arctic seas.
3. Beluga angustata, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._
1869, p. 20, figs. 2 & 3.
Beluga concreta, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad._ 1865,
p. 5.
Inhab. Arctic seas.
These are probably varieties of _B. catodon_, showing that the attachment
of the cervical vertebræ, the number of ribs, and the form of the
acromion are liable to vary.
4. Beluga canadensis, _Wyman_, _Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist._
1865.
Inhab. Canada.
I believe it to be the same as the former.
2. Beluga Kingii.
Beluga Kingii, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 309; _Synops. Whales
&. Dolph._ p. 9, t. 7.
Inhab. Australia.
2. MONODON.
Monodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 231, 310; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
Monoceros, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 393.
Lateral expansion over the orbit shelving down. Teeth in both jaws very
early deciduous. Male with one, rarely two, very long, projecting, spiral
tusks in the left side of the upper jaw. Cervical vertebræ:—first free,
thin; second and third united by the spinal processes. Bladebone with
large coracoid and acromion processes. Fingers short.
Vertebræ 50:—C. 7. D. 11. L. 6. C. 26.
“In the skeleton of two males in the Museum of the College of Surgeons,
the bodies of the second and third cervical vertebræ are firmly
united.”—_Flower._
1. Monodon monoceros.
B.M.
Monodon monoceros, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 311; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9; _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ t. 44. f. 6-9.
Inhab. North Sea.
Family 15. PONTOPORIADÆ.
Head long-beaked. Beak slender, smooth. Nostrils on the nape,
crescent-shaped. Teeth in both jaws permanent, conical, with a swollen
ring round the base. Dorsal fin short, trigonal. Pectoral fin short,
truncated. Fingers 5, nearly equal; the thumb very short, of one joint;
the index finger the longest, the rest gradually shorter to the little
finger. Bladebone broad, with two ridges. Skull long-beaked, the beak
compressed. Lower jaws united together nearly to the base. Cartilages of
ribs ossified.
Vertebræ 42:—C. 7. D. 10. L. 7. C. 18.
1. PONTOPORIA.
Pontoporia, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 230, 231 & 393; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 5; _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._ vi. p. 87;
_Burmeister_, _An. Mus. P. Buenos Ayres_, p. 389.
Stenodelphis, _Gervais_, 1847.
Beak of the skull high, compressed. Symphysis of the lower jaw very long.
1. Pontoporia Blainvillii.
B.M.
Pontoporia Blainvillii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 231; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 5, t. 29 (skull); _Flower_, _Trans. Zool. Soc._
vi. p. 106, t. 28 (skull); _Burmeister_, _An. Mus. P. Buenos
Ayres_, i. p. 387, tab. 23 (animal), tab. 25 & 26 (skeleton).
Inhab. South Atlantic, Monte Video.
The animal figured by Gervais as _Delphinus (Stenodelphis) Blainvillii_
(Voy. Amér. Mérid. t. 23) differs from Burmeister’s figure in having an
elongated subfalcate pectoral fin, and a higher dorsal, and a broad white
streak, commencing from the blower and extending down the back to near
the tail. If this is not a figure of the animal seen at sea, which I
suspect it must be, it must be a different species.
Suborder VI. ZIPHIOIDEA.
Ziphiidæ, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 326.
Ziphioidea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Head beaked. Nostrils two, united into a single transverse or
crescent-like blower on the centre of the back of the crown. Teeth only
in the front or sides of the lower jaw, fitting into pits in the upper
one. Dorsal fin falcate. Pectoral fin ovate, small, low down on the
side of the body: fingers short, 4- or 5-jointed; second and third the
longest; fourth rather shorter; first and fifth rather short. Cervical
vertebræ more or less united into one mass.
Family 16. HYPEROODONTIDÆ.
Hyperoodontina, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 327.
Hyperoodontidæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Blower lunate. Beak of the skull with a high crest on each side above,
formed by the elevation of the maxillary bones in front of the blower.
Teeth 2 or 4, in front of the lower jaw, conical. Cervical vertebræ
united into one mass.
1. HYPEROODON.
Hyperoodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 328; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
Beak of the skull bent downwards: crest of the back of the beak
sharp-edged, above as high as the occiput.
Vertebræ 44 or 45:—C. 7 (all united into one solid mass). D. 9. L. 10. C.
18 or 19.
1. Hyperoodon butzkopf.
B.M.
Hyperoodon butzkopf, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 330; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9, t. 3.
Hyperoodon rostratum, _Reinhardt_, _in Eschricht’s Vid. Selsk._
v. t. 7 (male fœtus and skeleton); _Gray_, _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ t. 3. f. 1-4.
Inhab. North Sea.
1. Hyperoodon semijunctus, _Cope_, _Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad._ 1865, p. 15 (280), 1869, p. 21.
Inhab. Charlestown Harbour.
Most likely a variety of _H. butzkopf_.
2. LAGENOCETUS.
Lagenocetus, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 336; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 9.
Beak of the skull straight, erect, very large, flattened, higher than the
occiput.
1. Lagenocetus latifrons.
B.M.
Lagenocetus latifrons, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 339; _Synops. Whales
& Dolph._ p. 9.
Hyperoodon latifrons, _Gray_, _Zool. Ereb. & Ter._ t. 24;
_Reinhardt_, _in Eschricht’s Vidensk. Selsk. Skr._ v. t. 6
(skull).
Inhab. North Sea.
“Plate 6 represents the skull of a male of _Hyperoodon latifrons_ (Gray),
from the Färöer, of which the complete skeleton, 25 feet long, is
preserved in the University’s Museum.
“Eschricht believed, as is known, that _H. latifrons_ was established on
a very old male of the common Dögling, _Hyperoodon rostratus_; but Gray’s
species must now be regarded as well grounded.
“Plate 7 represents the male (fœtus) of the common _H. rostratus_. All
figures of half the natural size.”—_Reinhardt._
Family 17. EPIODONTIDÆ.
Epiodontina, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 327.
Epiodontidæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 9.
Blower lunate. Skull:—beak simple; maxillaries not dilated above;
intermaxillaries enlarged behind, forming a more or less deep cavity
round the nostrils. Teeth 2 or 4 in front of the lower jaw, conical or
cylindrical. Cervical vertebræ:—first, second, and third united into one
mass, which is produced and truncated above; the rest thin, free.
1. EPIODON.
Epiodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 340; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 10.
Skull:—vomer simple, small; intermaxillaries elevated, and forming a
moderately deep, well-marked basin round the nostrils. Fingers 5; carpal
bones 6; phalanges 2, 3, 4, 3, 3. Sternal bones separate from the front,
lanceolate. Vertebra 42; the “front caudal with chevron bones. First four
cervical vertebræ united by their bodies into one mass” (Ostéog. Cét. t.
22. f. 4).
1. Epiodon Desmarestii.
Epiodon Desmarestii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 341; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 10.
Ziphius aresques, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cétac._ t. 21. f. 1-4.
Ziphius decavirostris (de Z. aresques), _Gervais_, _Ostéog.
Cét._ t. 22. f. 4-11.
Ziphius cavirostris, _Gervais_, _Zool. et Paléon. Française_,
t. 38. f. 1, t. 39, f. 2-7.
Inhab. North Sea and Mediterranean, Hérault.
2. Epiodon australis.
Ziphiorrhynchus cryptodon, _Burmeister_, _Ann. & Mag. N. H._
1866. xvii. p. 94, t. 3.
Epiodon cryptodon, _Burm._, _l. c._ p. 303, t. 6; _Gray_,
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 10.
Delphinorhynchus australis, _Burmeister_, _Zeitsch. Nat._ vol.
xxvi. 1865, p. 262; _An. Mus. Buenos Ayres_, t. 15-21.
Ziphius de Buenos Ayres, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 31. f. 5.
Inhab. Buenos Ayres.
Vertebræ 49: cervical 7, dorsal 10, lumbar 12, caudal 20.
2. PETRORHYNCHUS.
Petrorhynchus, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 327, 342; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 10.
Skull trigonal. Vomer swollen, forming a large, elongated tubercle
between the callous intermaxillaries. Intermaxillaries forming a deep
basin round the nostrils.
1. Petrorhynchus mediterraneus.
Ziphius cavirostris, _Gervais_, _Zool. et Paléon. Franç._ t.
38. f. 2, t. 39. f. 1.
Ziphius du Canton Gironde, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 21. fig. 6.
Ziphius fos. des Bouches du Rhône, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 21. f. 7.
Ziphius de Corse, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 21. figs. 8, 9.
Inhab. Mediterranean.
2. Petrorhynchus capensis.
B.M.
Petrorhynchus capensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 346, figs. 67, 68;
_Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 10.
Ziphius indicus, _Van Beneden_; _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 346,
fig. 69.
Ziphius du Cap-de-Bonne-Espérance, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t.
21. f. 10.
Ziphius de la mer des Indes, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 21.
f. 11-13.
Inhab. South Sea. Cape sea (_H. Layard_).
Though M. van Beneden’s figure (copied in Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 347. f.
69) is so unlike the figure of _Petrorhynchus capensis_ in the Cat. Seals
& Whales, pp. 344 & 345. figs. 67 & 68, yet the cast of the beak of M.
van Beneden’s specimen resembles the latter figure and our specimen.
Family 18. ZIPHIIDÆ.
Ziphiina, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ pp. 327, 348.
Ziphiidæ, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 10.
Skull beaked. Maxillaries not dilated above. Intermaxillaries linear,
rather swollen on the sides of the nostrils. Teeth on the sides of the
lower jaw compressed. Cervical vertebræ more or less united into a
consolidated mass.
* _Symphysis of the lower jaw produced behind the teeth._
1. BERARDIUS.
Berardius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 348; _Synops. Whales. &
Dolph._ p. 10.
Teeth 2·2, in the front of the sides of the lower jaw, conical,
compressed. Lower jaw gradually tapering in front. Symphysis moderately
long, as far from the hinder tooth as from the tip.
1. Berardius arnuxi.
Berardius arnuxi, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 348, fig. 70; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 10; _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 23 (skull).
Inhab. New Zealand.
“Skull and lower jaw, a cervical vertebra, scapula, hyoid, paddles, and
pelvic bones of one individual.
“Single tooth of another individual, weight 206 grains.
in.
“Length of head 23½
Length of nose 17
Length of dental groove 7
Length of lower jaw 19
Width at notch 5½
Width at orbits 9½
Width of intermaxillary at blow-holes 4½
Width of nose 2
Height of occiput 9½
“One small tooth imbedded close to the tip of lower jaw on left side, 1
inch high, weight 38⅘ grains, irregular triangular shape.
“This is the skull of a young animal. A groove containing a strong
ligament connecting the muscle of the forehead with the snout is deeply
imbedded in the intermaxillary groove. The snout is described as long and
flexible. Atlas and axis anchylosed. Length of cervical vertebræ 3⁷⁄₁₀
inches. Scapula, longitudinal diameter 10 inches, transverse diameter 6
inches. Paddles, length 14 inches, width 3½ inches. Hyoid arch 5½ × 4
inches high. Pelvic bones 2½ inches.
“The specimen was cast on the beach on the west coast, and prepared by
Dr. Knox.”—_Hector._
“Your _Berardius_ proves to be quite different from the first one we got,
both in the dentition and form of the skull. We have had several good
papers on it from Dr. Knox. He has made a beautiful preparation, showing
that the tooth does not pass through the gum.”—_Dr. Hector_, letter dated
30th October, 1870.
“A fine specimen of _Berardius arnuxi_ has been cast ashore on the coast
of Canterbury, New Zealand. It was made into a skeleton, which is now in
the museum at Canterbury. The skeleton is complete, only wanting one of
the pelvic bones. It was 30 feet long, and a young animal; not a single
epiphysis is anchylosed. The cervical vertebræ, which, in the old animal
evidently form a compact mass, are still partly free; the first three
vertebræ (including the atlas) anchylosed, and of these the first two
completely, and of the second and third the neural arches are as yet not
completely united into one bone. It has ten ribs.”—_Julius Haast._
The animal was 30 feet 6 inches long.
Deep velvet-black, belly greyish, tail with two falcate lobes 6½ feet
broad. The pectoral fins are little above the middle of the body, 17
inches broad and 19 inches long, of a triangular form. Dorsal fin small,
falcate, not very far from the chin (?). “The animal has the power of
protruding the four teeth at will.” They live on cephalopods. The stomach
contained about a half-bushel of the horny beaks of the _Octopus_, which
were nearly all the same size. It was evidently a young animal, as all
the disk-like epiphyses of the vertebræ are still separate, as was the
case with the limb-bones.
The seven cervical vertebræ were beginning to coalesce; the first three
are already anchylosed, the first two completely, and the second and
third only partially, as the neural arches and transverse processes are
not yet united in one bone. It has ten dorsal vertebræ; the lumbar and
caudal vertebræ were not observed. (Dr. Haast, Annals & Mag. Nat. Hist.,
Oct. 1870.)
** _Symphysis of the lower jaw to or nearly to the teeth._
2. ZIPHIUS.
Ziphius, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 348; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 10.
Micropteron, _Flower_, _l. c._ p. 328.
Teeth 2, in the middle of the sides of the lower jaw. Teeth of the male
large, short, compressed, truncated at the end; of female small, curved.
Lower jaw often with sundry rudimentary teeth, gradually tapering in
front; symphysis elongate, and reaching to the middle of the teeth in the
male, and beyond it in the female. Cervical vertebræ free. Scapula with
large coracoid and acromion processes.
Vertebræ 46:—C. 7. D. 10. L. 10. C. 19.
“_Micropteron_: cervical vertebræ all united in one solid
mass.”—_Flower_, _l. c._ p. 328.
1. Ziphius Sowerbiensis.
B.M.
Ziphius Sowerbiensis, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 350, fig. 71; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 10, tab. 5. f. 3, 4 (skull).
Mesoplodon Sowerbiensis, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 22 & 23
(skull and ear-bone); _Van Beneden_, _Mém. de l’Acad. Brux._
vol. x. t. 3.
Dioplodon Sowerbiensis, _Gervais_, _Zool. et Paléont.
Française_, t. 30. f. 1.
Inhab. British Channel. Irish Sea.
3. DOLICHODON.
Dolichodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 353; _Synops. Whales & Dolph._
p. 10.
Teeth 2, in the middle of the sides of the lower jaw. Teeth (of male)
very long, strap-shaped, produced, arched obliquely, truncated at the
end, with a conical process on the front of the terminal edge. Lower jaw
weak, very slender in front. Symphysis elongate.
1. Dolichodon Layardii.
B.M.
Ziphius Layardii, _Gray_, _l. c._ p. 353, fig. 72.
Dolichodon Layardii, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 10.
Inhab. Cape of Good Hope (_H. Layard_).
4. NEOZIPHIUS.
Teeth 2, in the front of the lower jaw, with a compressed, short,
triangular crown. Lower jaw strong, rather narrow in the middle, and
suddenly tapering in front of the tooth. Symphysis to the back edge of
the teeth.
1. Neoziphius europæus.
Dioplodon europæus, _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 24 (skull).
Inhab. Mediterranean.
5. DIOPLODON.
Dioplodon, _Gray_, _l. c._ pp. 327, 355; _Synops. Whales &
Dolph._ p. 10.
Teeth 2 or 4, conical, in the middle of the sides of the lower jaw. Lower
jaw broad behind, suddenly contracted in front. Symphysis moderate, not
reaching halfway to the teeth.
1. Dioplodon sechellensis.
Ziphius sechellensis, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ t. 6.
f. 1, 2 (skull).
Dioplodon sechellensis, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 355; _Synops.
Whales & Dolph._ p. 10, t. 5. f. 4; _Ann. & Mag. N. H._ 1870,
vi. p. 343, fig. (skeleton); _Gervais_, _Ostéog. Cét._ t. 25
(skull).
Dioplodon densirostris, _Gervais_, _Zool. Paléont. Franç._ t.
43. f. 3-6.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.
_Dioplodon sechellensis._]
Inhab. Seychelles. Mus. Paris. Lord Howe’s Island (_Krefft_).
The form of the lower jaw gives a very peculiar appearance to the
skeleton. The cervical vertebræ are united together by their bodies and
large dorsal spines, the latter forming a thick conical process. The
bodies of the dorsal vertebræ are very small, enlarging in size towards
the tail; they are thirty-six in number. The four terminal caudal ones
are very small, forming a kind of cylindrical process. There are eight
chevron bones. The thoracic cavity is small. There are twelve ribs on
each side. The dorsal processes of the first eighteen vertebræ have an
anterior basal process, which becomes gradually smaller.
Upper arm-bone very slender, slightly curved; the lower arm-bones
moderate, straight, parallel to each other, and rather longer than the
upper arm-bone. The ribs very broad at the upper end, and gradually
tapering towards the chest, where they are nearly cylindrical.
“The total length of the skeleton, without cartilage, is 14 feet 8
inches; the head measures 2 feet 5½ inches in length, and the lower
jaw 2 feet 3 inches in length. The first three cervical vertebræ are
anchylosed; the next one is more or less free; and the remaining three
are anchylosed again. The dorsals are ten in number, the last bearing a
short rib 8 inches in length. Five of these ribs are jointed direct to
the sternum; the following two meet the cartilage of the fifth rib.
“The sternum is composed of four pieces, 20 inches long, with a width of
between 5 and 7 inches. It is not yet sufficiently cleaned to enable me
to have it photographed; this, however, will be done as soon as possible,
and copies forwarded to the Society. The lumbars number twenty, the last
nine having V-bones attached. The fifth lumbar is 17½ inches high, 4
inches wide at the top, and 11¾ inches at the base, including the side
processes. The eleventh lumbar is the widest, being 4¾ inches at the top.
The caudals probably amounted to 13; but five of these are missing; the
basal one is very small, about the size of a pea; and as it was firmly
attached to the second last, there can be no mistake about it.
“The head is 2 feet 5½ inches long and 14 inches across at the widest
part; the lower jaw 2 feet 3 inches long and 6¼ inches high behind the
tooth. The left tooth measures 6 inches in length, 3⅜ inches in width,
and is 1¾ inch thick [not well represented in the figure]. The space
between the teeth measures 7¼ inches. The limbs are very imperfect; all
the smaller bones are missing; and there is only a part of one scapula. I
did not find the pelvic bones.
“This animal was captured about a year ago, near Lord Howe’s
Island.”—_Krefft_, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 426.
THE END.
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