Of fhe AidUiil, which ih is species is said to be called in
Greenland, wonderful stories are told : the following is not
the most extraordinary. “ Where these appear all the
seals disappear, else they make desperate slaughter among
them, for they have such sagacity and skill in catching
them with the m outh and fins, th a t they are sometimes seen
loaded with five a t a time, one in th e mouth, a couple u n der
each fin and one under th e back fin.”— Crantz, Greenla
n d , 116.
Sibbald describes the comparatively small triangular
dorsal to b e erect, like a “ Mizara mast,” which Artedi
and Linnæus translate p in n a allissima, and caused Shaw
to call it the High-finned Cachalot. Dr. Fleming by mistake
calls th is species the Spermaceti Wh a le (Brit. A. 88);
and he refers to P. macrocephalns (lann.), as th e true
Sperm Wha le figured by Robertson. Sibbald, in speaking
o f another specimen, says, “spinam dorso lo n g a v if
as correctly quoted by Artedi and Linnæus, b u t used by
them in opposition to the altissima o f th e ir other species.
Colnelt (Voy. S. Pacific) speaks o f innumerable shoals
of Black-fish on the shores of California.
Mr. Wai-wick informs me th a t there is a stuffed specimen
o f th is Whale perambulating this country in three
caravans ; unfortunately 1 have never h ad the opportunity
o f seeing it.
Th ere is an etching o f Van den Veld, o f a “ P o t Wal-
wesk op Noortwijek op Zee, 28 Dec. 1614,” which I think
represents this species.
In th e Catalogue of the Museum o f the College o f S urgeons
th e trunca ted Whales’ teeth are called “ the teeth of
the High-finned Cachalot, P. Tursio ? ” p. 171, n. 1189—
1194. And the small jaws of the S penn Wha le are called
“ the Lesser Cachalot (Physeter Catodon, l.\n n .)" Duhamel
(Pech. iv. t. 9, f. 2) figured a whale from the “ River
G a b o n ” in Guinea, with teeth in th e lower jaw, a dorsal
on the hinder p a rt of th e back, and the blowers in the
crown, as in this genus ; b u t the jaws are equal, and tlie
mouth b e n t up a t the angles to the eyes. H<! says I t IS
called Grampus by the English.
Fam. 3 . D e l p h in id æ . D o l p h in s .
H e ad moderate. Tee th in both jaws, rarely mdimen-
tary and early deciduous. Blowers u nited together, opening
in a single transverse or lunate opening on the crown
o f th e head.
Th is family is easily known from th e Toothed Whales,
or Catodontidæ, by th e smaller and more proportionate
head ; and in those species wliich have lost their upper
tee th a t an early age, by there being no regula.r series of
p its in the gum o f th e u pper jaw for the reception of the
tee th o f the low'er one : and also hy th e h in d er p a rt of the
skull n o t being deeply concave, and surrounded on the
sides and behind by a high ridge.
These animals when first born are large compared with
the size o f the parents, (according to Dr. Knox, th e foetus
o f the porpesse is half th e length, th a t is, one fourth the
size of the p arent before it is born, Trans. Roy. Soc. E d .
ii. 208) ; and they appear to attain Ibeir full size very rapidly,
which may account for th e very slight difference to
be observed in th e size o f th e skull, and the great uniformity
in the number, and in the space which the series of
tee th occupy upon tbe edge of the jaw s in different specimens
o f the same species. H u n te r thought th e ex a ct numb
e r o f tee th in any species was uncertain ; observing the
tee th in tho middle o f each series w'cre the largest and
the most lii'inly fixed, he states his belief th a t “ the jaws
increased posteriorly and decay a t th e symphysis, and
while th e growth is going on, there is a constant succession
o f new teeth, by w'hich moans the new-formed teeth
are proportioned to the jaw.” — Ph il. Trans. 1788, 398.
Dr. Fleming, from the examination o f th e jaws o f two
porpoises of different ages, thinks “ the jaws lengthen at
the symphysis and a t the b a s e ; ” and th a t the new teeth
formed a t these places are the smallest, and th a t there is
no absorption.”—Fleming, Ph il. Zool. ii. 208. T h is may
be the case with the specimens before they arrive a t their
full s i z e ; b u t no skull o f this kind has fallen u nder my
observation : and as far as my experience will carry me,
I have found the numbers, size, and disposition of tbe
teeth, one of th e most important characters for the determination
o f the species and the definition of genera. M.
F . Cuvier’s remarks [Cetac. 103, 104) on the teeth as the
characters of genera are n o t consistent with my observations,
b u t I have found them quite as characteristic o f the
different genera as those of other orders o f Mammalia,
though they do not pre sent so many different forms. At
the same lime, it is true, th a t compilers like Lesson, who
have n o t taken the trouble to examine a single skull, have
made far too many genera. And I may also observe that
the genera Phoctena an d Delphinapterus, as formed and
adopted by the Cuviers are founded on very slight characters,
and bring together species tlia th av e very little relation
to each other. 1 have found it necessary, for the purpose
of more distinctly defining the species, to divide them into
into several new groups, which has enabled me to arrange
them into what appears to be a more natural series, and to
more nearly circumscribe the genera.
My thanks are due to Dr. Richardson of Ha sla r, to Mr.
Brightwell and the Committee of the Norwich Philosophical
Society, and to Mr. Bell, for allovving me to have a t the
Museum for comparison the specimens of these animals in
the collections under ihcir ca re; and to Mr. Owen and the
Council of the College of Surgeons, and to Mr. Fraser and
the Council of the Zoological Society, for permission to
examine the skulls in their Museums.
The family is divided into sections by th e form o f the
skull, and these into genera by the form an d disposition of
the teeth, au d by the absence and presence of the dorsal
fin.A
. Jaw-bones d ila te d on each side behind.
a. P ectoral fin tapering. Jaw-bones produced and
b en t up before the orbits. Tee th few. Hyperoo-
dontina.
b. Pectoral fin truncated. Jaw-bone produced, b en t
up over the orbits. Tee th many. Plaianisiina.
B. Jaw-bone not bent up behind.
a. Wing o f jaw-bone horizontal. He ad produced in-
into a beak. J 'c e th numerous. Delphinina.
b. W in g o f the jaw-bone horizontal. H e ad rounded.
Tee th numerous. Orcadina.
c. Win g o f th e jaw-bone and beak shelved downwards.
Monocerina.
Having, since tho above table was in type, h ad the opportunity
o f examining the skulls of Z ip h iu s In ia , &c., I
am induced lo propose the following arrangement as move
consistent with their natural distribution :—
A. Jaw s tapering, the symphysis o f the lower ja w short
(n o t h a l f the length o f the j a w ) . Dorsal f i n generally
distinc t. Marine.
a. U p p e r jaw toothless, lower jaw with only one or two
tee th on each side, often hidden in th e gums. Beak
of skull keeled or winged on the side. Hyperoodon-
tina.
b. U ppe r and lower jaw with few or deciduous teeth.
Wings of jaw-bone shelving downwards. Monocera-
tina.
c. U ppe r an d lower jaw with many teeth. Wings of
jaw-bone horizontal. Delphinina.
B. Jaw s much compressed, the sijmphysis o f th e lower
very long, more th a n h a l f the length ; dorsal n o n e ; teeth
in both jaw s . Fluviatile.
d. Wings o f jaw-bone b en t up in front. Pla ta n islin a .
e. Wing o f jaw expanded. In im a .
A. Jaw s tapering, ihe symphysis o f the lower ja w short,
not h a l f ihe lengih o f the ja w . Dorsal f i n generally distin
ct. Pectoral f i n ovate acute. Marine.
a. Upper ja w toothless, lowei- ja w w ith only one or two
teeth (w h ich are often hidden in the gum s) on each
side. B ea k o f ihe sku ll keeled on each side, the keel
being sometimes large, an d fo rm in g a large k in d o f
refiex ed wing on each side. Hyperoodoutina.
Synopsis o f the Genera.
1. H y p e b o o d o n .—The beak o f the u pper jaw with a
large erect wing-like expansion in front of the blowers,
lower jaw with two rudimentary teeth in front.
2. Z i p h i u s .— Beak o f upper jaw keeled on each side,
lower jaw broad, with large compressed teeth in the middle
of each side.
3 . D e l p h in o r h y n c h u s . — Beak o f upper jaw keeled on
each side, lower jaw with two or three small, rudimentary,
conical teeth in the middle of each side.
H y' p e r o o d o n , Lacep.
Delphinus, part, Lacep. Uranodon, Rliger. Nodus,
Wagler. Aodon, Lesson. Cetodiodon, Jacob.
Upper jaw' toothless ; lower jaw with a small, conical,
acute, rudimentary, moveable tooth, in a cavity under the
gums, on each side of the front part. Blowers linear,
transverse, sub-limate.
According to Voight and Wesraael, the ends of the blowers,
as in other Dolphins, point forward. Dale, Baussard
and Douraet describe them as pointing backwards; Des-
marest and others assumed the latter as a generic ch a racter.
Illiger’s genus, Uranodon, depends on the hard sharp
points said to be found in the palate by Baussard. Wes-
mael did not find them in his specimen.
This genus is a t once known from Delphinorhijnchus,
without examining the skull, by the head being more convex
and rounded in front, an d the two tee th being situated
in th e front end o f the lower jaw , while in th a t genus they
are in the middle of each side.
The descriptions o f the species o f th is genus are so different,
that I am inclined to keep them distinc t, for the
purpose o f calling attention to • lem. Cuvier regarded
them all as one.
* Dorsal f i n in the centre o f the hack. Hype roodon, Lacep.
Uranodon, Illig er.
The B o t t l e -h e a d . Hyperoodon Buiskopf.
Tab.
1. Hyperoodon Butskopf, Lacep. Cetac. 319; from
Baussard, Jour. Phys. xx x iv . 201, f. copied F. Cuv.
Cetac. 241, t. 17, f . 1, t. 1 1 ,/. 1, cop.
De lphinus ? edentatus, Schreb. Saugth. t. 347.
D. Hyperoodon, Desm. Mam. 521.
D. Honfloriensis, Desm.
D. Butskopf, Bo n n a t. 25.
2. Bottle-head, or F lounder’s He ad , Dale, Hist. H a r wich,
411, t. 149, cop.
Beaked Whale, Penn. B r it. Zool. t.
Black, bene ath lead-coloured ; dorsal fin central ; lower
jaw with 2 pointed teeth in front, sunk in th e gums ; “ p a late
with acute hard points blowers transverse, lunate,
with th e convexity in front.
In hab. North Sea. Harwich, Dale.
B aossakd.
Adult. Young.
Length, entire, 23-6 ft. 12-6
„ o fb e a k , .... 0-5
„ to blower .... 4-4 M l
„ of head, .... 1-4
„ o f pectoral, 2'0 1-0
„ to dorsal fin, 13-6 7-8
Length o f dorsal fin, 2-0 1 0
„ to vent. 7-10
Width of pectoral. T3 7-
„ of caudal, .... 6T0 3-2
Circumference, 15-7 8-0
„ o f head,, 8-7
H e ig h t of dorsal, .... T3 7.
D a le.
Fema le. Male.
13 ft. 18 ft.
Lacepède called the genus Hyperoodon, and Illiger
Uranodon, because o f the teeth on the p ala te described by
Baussard. They have not been observed on th e other specimens
; and Illiger, in his generic character, by mistake
says the two teeth are in the upper jaw , [Gen. 143).
Heterodon Dalei (Lesson), is not from Da le’s, b u t from
Blainville’s account of Delphinorhynchus micropierus.
Lacepède placed this species as the type o f his H y p e r oodon,
and refers De lphinus bidenfalus lo Delp h in u s f
F . Cuvier considers H u n te r’s and Baussard’s as incontes-
tib ly th e same species, taking no notice of the position of
the dorsal [Cetac. 242). Dale does not mention th e teeth,
b u t they are only to be seen when the flesh is removed.