B 3 301 071 DECENT AND EXTINCT : ELEMENTARY TREATISE FOR THE USE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. A. W. SCOTT, M.A, THOMAS KICIIABDS. GOVEEXMEyT PRINTEE. 1873. JVo Division Range Shelf.. Received BIOLOGY LIBRARY G University of California. G-IFT 187*. * . MAMMA.LIA. EECENT AND EXTINCT; External. Abundant, long. None. I Bent for- f wards. Cystophoridse j Macrorhinus ... Cystophora 1 ( Monachus Phoca ) More or less Not visible. (-Moderate, short. ! Bentback- j wards Phocidae < Halichoerus Stenorhynchus. V double- } rooted. | None. ORDER 7. PINNIPEDIA, 1 Amphibia 2 of Cuvier, Otaries, 3 "Walrus, 4 Seals. 5 The front limbs of all the animals which compose this order are powerful, short, nearly hidden within the skin of the body ; the paws, however, advance, are fin-like, and provided with five long fingers, which diverge from each other, and are completely embedded in the sur- rounding membrane : these fingers, in general, diminish in size from what we may call the thumb to the little finger. The fore-limbs are used for swimming purposes, for seizing the prey, for assisting in movements on land and for ascending rocks or blocks of ice. The hind limbs are even more powerful than the front ones, and when at rest are in some species directed forwards, similar in position to those of terrestrial mammals ; in others backwards, in a line with 1 Pinna, & fin ; and pes, a foot. 2 A/i(J>i)8ios ('o/i(/)t and fids), capable of living on land and in water. I may remark that the term amphibious, when applied to these animals, is incorrect, for not possess- ing gills they cannot breathe under water, but must come to the surface to respire the atmospheric air, as other mammals do. Existing, however, on fish and other marine prey, they possess, on extraordinary occasions, the essential attribute of only breathing once in twenty minutes, whereas many land animals are compelled to do so twenty times in the minute. 3 Ous, WT&S, the ear. 4 From the German "wall" as in wallfisch, a whale, and " ross" a horse. 6 From the Saxon "seol," "sele," "syle." 6 the body, which they terminate ; the bones are short, and strong ; the five toes of the foot are filled up between with a flexible membrane, which enables them to spread out when in action into broad webbed paddles, and again in repose to fold together ; of these toes the lateral ones are the largest, the others diminishing towards the centre. By means of these hind limbs, seals are principally rendered expert swimmers, and perform their evolutions in the water with ease, rapidity, and endurance. The body is elongated, conical, and tapers from the chest to the tail ; it is clothed either with long, soft, compact hair, enveloping a valuable under-fur, or with hair short, smooth, firmly adpressed to the skin, and slightly unctuous. The mammae are ventral. The head ia round, with a large, full, fleshy muzzle, studded with long stiff bristles. The eyes aro large and dark, expressive of intelligence, and eminently adapted for seeing under water. The ears are very small, mostly not visible externally. The neck is long and flexible ; the cervical vertebrae, free. The sternum is usually composed of eight bones, to which nine or ten pair of ribs are directly joined. The costo-sternal ribs are cartilaginous. The dorsal line is without any protuberance. The tail is very short, usually compressed, and placed immediately between the hind feet. As might be expected from this peculiar structure, so admirably adapted for the watery element in which they pass a great portion of their lives, these animals when on the land are very ungainly in their movements. It is only in a few species where progression appears to be accomplished, though very awkwardly, in a manner similar to that of the terrestrial quadruped ; while in others, it is attained by bending or arching the extremely flexible back-bone, by fixing firmly the posterior portion of the body on the ground, and then by suddenly straightening out, in front, the whole frame. By a quick repetition of this movement, a series of jerking leaps takes place, and, assisted materially by the fore-paws, a speed is attained, especially on the ice, sufficient to outstrip a man running in pursuit. Seals are eminently gregarious, and consequently are seldom met with except in large herds. They resort to the land "for the purpose of bringing forth and suckling their young which at a birth is commonly one, very rarely two for basking in the sun, in the warmth of which they delight, for repose and slumber during the night, and for shelter from tempestuous weather. To ascend rocks or masses of ice of ordinary elevations, they fasten their fore-paws, with the gripe of a vice, on inequalities, and uplifting their unwieldy carcasses, they with tolerable facility gain the summit ; but when the sides of these elevations prove too precipitous, they await the swell of the wave, which wholly or partially floats them to their purposed place of repose ; but in the latter case they cling with tenacity to the face of the rock until another and larger wave lifts them to a sufficient height. The brain of the Seal tribe is usually much developed, and writers best acquainted with the habits of the species accord to these animals the possession of a considerable amount of intelligence and sagacity, scarcely inferior to those exhibited by the dog. This favourable opinion has been frequently verified by many interesting examples, while in a state of semi-domestication; although it is palpable that these faculties, when exercised in their natural element, the full extent of which we can have no means of accurately ascertaining, must neces- sarily excel those which they manifest on shore. With the view of freeing from complication the many intricacies which at the present time obscure the consideration of the animals composing this imperfectly understood Order, and to insure to the student a ready, yet comprehensive insight into the systematic dis- position of the species, I commence by rejecting, as comparatively valueless, the highly elaborated Synopsis of Tribes, Grenera, and Species, which have been solely based upon the slight variations exhibited in the cranial development ; for such indications in the main are unreliable, and their omission, in regard to methodical deter- mination, presents no appreciable obstruction in the way of future research. By the material curtailment, which this decision facilitates, of the list of those alleged distinct kinds whose identity rests wholly upon such adventitious qualities, and likewise by uniting under the same genera the animals whose separate positions have been established upon the equally trivial evidence of a shade of colour or of a limited range of habitat, I arrive at a simpler, and, I believe, at a truer estimate of the number of species which constitute the Pinnipedian group. The Seals are arranged in this elementary treatise under two heads, the Eared, and the Earless Seals : the former represented by one family, the OtariadaB ; and the latter by three, the Trichechidae, Cystophorida3, and Phocidae. SEALS with external Ears. Family I. OTABIADJE. 1 T 3-3 . 'l-l T 5-5 6-6 nA 00 o Incisors 2^, canines ^, molars g^, or $r$ o4 or 80. The four middle upper incisors frequently have double cutting edges ; 3 the lower ones are bifurcate ; molars, generally closely approximated, are 1 ous, OJT&S, the ear. 2 This dental formula is the usual concise mode of describing the number and position of the various teeth. The upper figures refer to the teeth of the upper jaw, and the lower ones to those of the under jaw; while the hyphen serves to distinguish the' right from the left side. 3 " A circumstance hitherto unknown in any other animal." CUVIBB. 8 conical, with very large single roots ; in some tlie last of the upper ones have two roots, and small, compressed, lobed crowns ; head short, dog- like ; muzzle enlarged, and furnished with strong, stiff whiskers ; ears provided with a sub-cylindrical external conch ; eyes large, protected by eye-lids ; mouth very large ; tongue forked at the extremity ; fore limbs fin-like, situated far back ; hind limbs rather produced, com- paratively free, and bent forwards in repose, the limbs evincing, by their freer use, a nearer approach to the terrestrial Carnivora than those of any other of the Seal tribe ; nails flat, small, slender ; membrane of the feet prolonged beyond the nails into as many lobes as there are toes ; tail short, conical ; mammae four, ventral ; males much larger and darker in colour than the females. These animals, during progression on land, walk on their fore and hind limbs, and in repose turn the hind feet forwards. In habits they are gregarious and polygamous. SEALS, Adults, with abundant under-fur. Genus ABCTOCEPHALTJS, 1 F. Cuvier. Incisors H, canine ifj> molars 13 36. Upper incisors large, lower ones small; canines large, sharply pointed. Head and face somewhat elongated ; cerebral region slightly elevated; sagittal crest moderately developed ; muzzle narrow, pointed, moderately enlarged between and above the nostrils ; body more slender, feet and toe-flaps proportionately longer, than those of the Sea Lion ; claws very small, scarcely visible ; toes of the hind feet short, all nearly of the same length ; body covered with hair, and with thick, permanent, under-fur. In size the Sea Bears are much smaller than the Sea Lions. ABCTOCEPHALTTS UESiNUs, 2 Linnaeus. Northern Fur-Seal of Commerce. Synonyms PJioca ursina, Linn. Otaria ursina, Peron. Desm. ; Nilsson, Gray, Peters. ArctocepJialus ursinus, Gray, Grill. ArctocepJialus Calif ornianus, Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 51. Callorhinus ursinus, Gray, B. M. C. p. 44 ; Suppl. 1871, p. 14 ; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp., vol. ii., p. 73. The Northern and Southern Fur-Seals are considered by Dr. Gray to be generically distinct ; the skull of the former (Callorhinus) 3 "being easily known" from the latter (Arctocephalus) " by the shortness of the face, and convexity of the nose." It must be borne in mind, that even in the same species the develop- ment of the skull exhibits marked sexual characters, as well as many of those differences of form which occur during the various periods of growth. So frequently are these cranial variations met with, that it 1 &PKTOS, & bear, and /ce^oA.^, the head bear-headed. 2 Ursinus, bear-like. 3 /coAAos beautiful, and ^vos skin. 9 becomes almost impossible to nicely discern the relative position of individuals, even under favourable circumstances, and the difficulty is greatly enhanced by the imperfect data afforded by the examination of a few specimens only. The exceptional form of the cranium of the Northern Fur-Seal, as quoted above, appears to display no characters more strongly defined than those commonly seen in the skulls of many species of the same genus among the undomesticated mammalia ; consequently, a specific distinction applied to this animal would probably have been quite sufficient to meet every requirement for scientific classification. To the foregoing doubts as to the propriety of generic separation from the Southern Fur-Seal, I may further add, that little dependence, for the purpose of distinguishing kinds, can be placed on the appearance of the skin, or on the limit of the range of habitat ; for the colouring of the external hair, and the length, abundance, and quality of the under-fur, are greatly diversified by sex, by age, by seasonal condition, and by climate. And the geographic range is not confined within small bounds, but on the contrary it is extensive, as clearly established by the habitat of this Fur-Seal, which extends from the shores of Kamtschatka to those of California, 1 an extent of ocean greater than that from California to the Island of Juan Fernandez, or than those intervening spaces between the numerous localities in the Southern Seas, the recognised strongholds of the Southern Fur-Seals. The barrier, therefore, if any, which forbids the intercourse between these antipodean relatives exists, not in the distance, but in the passage across the warm temperature of the torrid zone. Taking such a view, I can scarcely accede to so broad a separation as that proposed by Dr. Grray >} but I am willing to consider the Northern animal as a distinct species, suggesting, however, the probability of its ultimately proving to be only a member of the one great Fur-Seal tribe of both hemispheres. The colour of the external coating of the male, when adult, varies from black-grey to brown-grey, occasionally pure black; while the adult female is usually grey, or ash-coloured, but during the shedding of the coat, many are seen partly ash-coloured and partly brown. The young of both sexes, previous to the first moult, are uniformly glossy black, silvered more or less by short white tips ; mostly so about the nape of the neck and hinder parts of the body ; or, as Dr. Gray himself observes, " the skin is so like that of the Arctocephalus nigrescens, 2 that we were induced to regard it as a second specimen of that species." The under-fur of both sexes and of the young is of a rich reddish colour, more or less tinted with deeper or lighter shades. x The Northern Sea Lion (Otaria Stelleri) and the Zalophus OKllespii, also occupy precisely the same extensive range. 2 Arctocephalus Falklandicus of Peters, Allen, Sclater, &c. 10 The males, when aged, will reach to 8 feet in length, but animals of 6 feet, or slightly under, are most frequently met with. The females are very much smaller, scarcely ever exceeding 4 feet. It will be seen, when I treat of the Southern Fur-Seal, that this description of the size, the colour of the hair, and under-fur of the Northern animal is applicable to both, and, in an account of the habits of the present species, those of the Antarctic Fur-Seal will be found to be equally truthfully depicted. "This creature," writes Steller, " has four feet on which it can walk and stand, somewhat like land animals ;" " when on shore, with the hind feet folded under, it plants the paws in front and sits as dogs often do, so that the toes perform the office of heels." " These animals are found in amazing numbers in the Islands of the North-west Coast of America, and so crowd the shore that they oblige the traveller to quit it, and scale the neighbouring rocks." They are as regularly migratory as birds of passage." " They live in families, every male being sur- rounded by from eight to fifty females, which he guards with the jealousy of an Eastern monarch. Each family keeps separate from the others, notwithstanding they lie in thousands along the shore, every family, including the young, amounting to about 100 or 120. Even at sea the distinctness of the families may be perceived." "When fighting they utter hideous growls, when amusing themselves they low like a cow, and after victory chirp like a cricket, and upon receiving a wound complain like a whelp." " Some twenty or thirty years ago there was a most wasteful destruction of the Fur- Seal, when young and old, male and female, were indiscriminately knocked on the head. This improvidence, as every one might have expected, proved detrimental in two ways. The race was almost extirpated ; and the market was glutted to such a degree, at the rate, for some time, of 200,000 skins a year, that the prices did not even pay the expenses of carriage. The Russians, however, have now adopted nearly the same plan which the Hudson's Bay Company pursues in recruiting any of its exhausted districts, killing only a . limited number of such males as have attained their full growth, a plan peculiarly applicable to the Fur-Seal, inasmuch as its habits render the system of husbanding the stock as easy and certain as destroying it. In the month of May, with something of the regularity of the almanac, the Fur-Seals make their appearance at the Island of St. Paul, one of the Aleutian Group. Each old male brings a herd of females under his protection, varying in number according to his size and strength ; the weaker brethren are obliged to content themselves with half-a-dozen wives, while some of the sturdier and fiercer fellows preside over harems that are 200 strong. From the date of their arrival in May, to that of their departure in October, the whole of them are principally ashore on the beach. The females go down to the sea once or twice a day, while the male, morning, noon, and , night, watches his charge with the utmost jealousy, postponing even the pleasures of eating and drinking, and sleeping, to the duty of keeping 11 his favourites together. If any young gallant ventures by stealth to approach any senior chief's bevy of beauty, he generally atones for his imprudence with his life, being torn to pieces by the old fellow, and such of the fair ones as may have given the intruders any encouragement are pretty sure to catch it in the shape of some secondary punish- ment." "At last the whole herd departs, no one knows whither." " The mode of capture is this : At the proper time, the whole are driven like a flock of sheep to the establishment, which is about a mile distant from the sea ; and there the males of four years, with the ex- ception of .a few that are left to keep up the breed, are separated from the rest and killed. In the days of promiscuous massacre, such of the mothers as have lost their pups would ever and anon return to the establishment, absolutely harrowing up the sympathies of the wives and daughters of the hunters, accustomed as they were to the scene, with their doleful lamentations." Sir George Simpson. 1 " The male Fur-Seal does not attain mature size until about the sixth year. He then measures in total length from seven to eight feet, and six and seven in girth. His colour is then dark brown, with grey overhair on the neck and shoulders. When in full flesh his weight varies from five to seven hundred pounds. These and no others occupy the rookeries (or breeding grounds) with the females. " A full-grown female measures four feet in length and two and a half around 'the body. She usually weighs from eighty to a hundred pounds. Her colour, when she first leaves the water, is a dark steel- mixed on the back, the sides and breast being white ; but she gradually changes somewhat, and in eight or ten days after landing becomes dark brown on the back, and bright orange on the breast, sides, and throat. 2 Hence, it is easy to distinguish those that have just arrived from those that have been several days on shore. The female breeds the third year, and is full-grown at four years. " The breeding rookeries, 3 which are frequented exclusively by the old males and females with their pups, occupy the belt of loose rocks along the shores between the high-water line and the base of the cliffs or uplands, and varies in width from five to forty rods. The sand beaches are used only as temporary resting-places, and for playgrounds by the younger seals ; these beaches being neutral ground, where the old and infirm or the wounded may lie undisturbed. " The old male appears to return each year to the same rock, so long as he is able to maintain his position. The native chiefs affirm that one seal, known by his having lost one of his flippers, came seventeen suc- cessive years to the same rock. " Those under six years are never allowed by the old ones on these places. They usually swim in the water along shore all day, and at night go on the upland above the rookeries and spread themselves out, like flocks of sheep, to rest. 1 " Narrative of a Journey round the World in 1841 and 1842." 2 See description of female of the Southern Fur-Seal by Musgrave and Morris, 3 15. Pribyloff group of Islands. 12 " Wherever a long continuous shore-line is occupied as a breeding rookery, neutral passages are set apart at convenient distances, through which the younger seals may pass from the water to the upland and return unmolested. Often a continuous line moving in single file may be seen for hours together going from the water to the upland, or the reverse, as the case may be. "When suddenly disturbed while sleeping on the upland by an attempt of an animal to cross the rookery at any other place, a general engagement ensues, which often results in the death or serious crippling of the combatants. " The old males are denominated by the natives Seacutch (married seals). These welcome the females on their arrival, and watch over and protect them and their young until the latter are large enough to be left to the care of their mothers and the younger males. " Those under six years old are not able to maintain a place on the rookery, or to keep a harem, and these are denominated Holluscliuclc (bachelors) . " As soon as a female reaches the shore, the nearest male goes down to meet her, meanwhile making a noise like the clucking of a hen to her chickens. He bows to her and coaxes her until he gets between her and the water, so that she cannot escape him. Then his manner changes, and with a harsh growl he drives her to a place in his harem. " Then the males higher up select the time when their more for- tunate neighbours are off their guard to steal their wives. This they do by taking them in their mouths and lifting them over the heads of the other females, and carefully placing them in their own harem, carrying them as cats do their kittens. " Frequently a struggle ensues between two males for possession of the same female, and both seizing her at once pull her in two, or terribly lacerate her with their teeth. " In two or three days after landing, the females give birth to one pup each, weighing about six pounds. It is entirely black, and remains of this colour the whole season. " There are at least twelve miles of shore line on the Island of St. Paul's 1 occupied by the seals as breeding grounds, with an average width of fifteen rods. There being about twenty seals to the square rod, gives 1,152,000 as the whole number of breeding males and females ; deducting one-tenth for males, leaves 1,037,800 breeding females. Allowing one-half of the present year's pups to be females, this will add half a million of breeding females to the rookeries of 1872, in addition to those now there, while the young of last year and the year before are also to be added. This estimate does not include the males under six years of age, those not being allowed on the rookeries by the older males, nor the yearlings. If we now add those frequent- ing St. George's Island, which number half as many, and make a very liberal discount for those that may be destroyed before reaching maturity, the number is still enormous. It will also be seen that the 1 Coast of Kamtschatka. 13 great importance of the Seal fishery is not to be calculated from the basis of its present yield, since each year adds to its extent, as with proper care the number can be increased until both islands* are fully occupied by these valuable animals. " Previous to 1866 these skins were worth only three dollars each, but owing to recent improvements in their manufacture they have become fashionable for ladies' wear, and soon after the transfer of the Territories to the United States the price rose to seven dollars." l ABCTOCEPHALTJS FALKLAISDICUS, Shaw. The Southern Pur-Seal of Commerce. Synonyms Falkland Island Seal, Pennant. PJioca Fallclandica, Shaw. Phoca antarctica, Thunberg. Otaria Falklandica, Desmarest. Otaria cinerea, Peron. Desm. ; Peters. Otaria Delalandii, F. Cuvier. Otaria FalHandica, $ or young. Jardine's "Nat. Libr." Arctoceplialus antarcticus, Gray, S. and W. and Suppl. Cape Fur- Seal. Arctoceplialus cinereus, Gray. Australian Fur-Seal. Arctoceplialus nigrescens, Gray. Southern Fur- Seal. Arctophoca Philippii, Peters. Chilian Fur-Seal. The few remarks in regard to the variations arising from the asymmetry of the cranial structure, and to the differences exhibited by external colouring of the skin, all referable to natural or incidental' causes, which I presented for the consideration of the reader, when discussing the natural position of the Northern Fur-Seal, apply with equal force to the Fur-Seals which inhabit the Southern Seas; and although several of these animals are considered as distinct species by most writers, yet I have ventured to include them under the one kind, the Falkland Island Seal of Pennant and Shaw. In adopting this course, it becomes necessary that some valid reasons should be given for departing so materially from the usual arrangement. In instituting the following comparisons, I refer the student to the list of the alleged distinct species enumerated in the foregoing synonyms, and which are described by Dr. Gray, in his Catalogue of the Seals in the British Museum of 1866, and Supplement 1871 ; for these publications are of great authority, inexpensive, and more easily attainable here than any others with which I am acquainted. First, then, as to the scientific value of those distinctions said to be so readily seen in the form of the skulls and in the minor differential points in the dentition, so as to constitute well defined species. 1 On the Eared Seals (Otariadee), by J. A. Allen and Charles Bryant. Aug., 1870. 14 I arrive, by a careful analysis of the researches of certain modern authors of great experience in such matters, at the following general but singularly conclusive results, namely : Dr. Peters 1 considers nigrescens and Philippii Falklandicus of Sh&w also cinereus m antarcticus. Mr. Allen 2 nigrescens, cinereus, antarcticus, Forsteri and Philippii zz do. . Dr. Burmeister 3 Philippii zz: do. Mr. Sclater 4 nigrescens zz: do. Capt. Abbott 5 nigrescens zz do. From these deliberate expressions of opinion, I am led to conclude that, if these zoologists are correct in their views, the whole series of the species of the Southern Fur Seals, defined with such precision in the British Museum Catalogue and Supplement, with the exception of Dr. Gray's Falkland Island Fur Seal, merge into the one, the Arctocephalus Falklandicus of Shaw ; if otherwise, the difficulty, even among the most proficient, of discriminating species correctly, is so palpably dis- played, that not only a disagreeable impression of unreliableness for the method of determination is stamped on the mind, but that no positive conclusions can possibly be drawn from principles so imperfect in themselves, from the slight and inconstant nature of their characters. Next, let the size and external colouring of the most familiarly known animals, which locate the numerous and by no means widely apart rts which stud the Southern Seas, be contemplated seriatim, and I ik it will be admitted that the similarity, inter se, revealed by both of these properties, will likewise corroborate by their concurrent testi- mony the probable unity of the many so-called species. The Sea Bears, which inhabit the Falkland Island's, " have the hair short, cinereous, tipped with dirty white ; length, 4 feet " Phoca falklandica, Shaw. "Blackish-brown, grey-black" Arctoc. nigrescens, Or ay. " The full-grown seal is about the size of the common English seal ; 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. ' ' Abbott. South Shetland Islands. " Nothing is more astonishing than the dis- proportion in the size of the male and female ; a large grown male is six feet nine inches, while the female is not more than three and a half feet ; the young are at first black, but after a few weeks they become grey." Weddell. Island of Juan Fernandez. " They are the size of an ordinary calf; their hair is of different colours, as black, brownish-grey, and spotted. Dampier. " Above dark-grey, more greyish on the head and neck, brownish-white beneath." Otaria Philippii. Peters. 1 Professor W. Peters, Berlin. 2 Professor J. A. Allen, Cambridge, America. 3 Museum, Buenos Ayres. * Secretary to Zoological Society of London. 5 Proceedings ZooL Soc., Lond., 1868. 15 New Year's Island, Staten Land. " Their size was equal to that assigned them by Steller; their hair is dark brown, sprinkled with grey." Forster. " They are rather larger than the common seal, and their general colour is iron-grey." Cook. Coast of Australia. "Black, greyer beneath; the hair 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 hair." Macgillivray , Arct. cinereus. Gray. Auckland Isles. " Males, bulls, or sea lions, uniformly blackish-grey ; length usually six feet, but the aged animal greatly exceeds this size. Females, cows, or tiger seals, grey, golden-buff, 1 or beautiful silver colour, sometimes spotted like a leopard ; smaller than the males." Musarave. Auckland Islands, South Coast of New Zealand, Shetland, Antipodes, and Chatham Islands. " Adult male, or wig, uniformly blackish ; pups born black ; after a few weeks they become grey ; at a year old the grey changes to light-brown, and when adult, to black, or blackish-grey. Adult female, or clapmatch, grey to silver-grey, at times golden-buff j 1 pups black." Morris? South Africa. " Adult male, or large wig, hair whitish, intermixed with a few black ones ; adult, or middling, hairs reddish-white, grizzled, with scattered black hairs ; young, or black pup, black, without any grey tips. Arct. antarcticus,from skins." Gray. From such perplexing sources no reasonable data for distinguishing species can be deduced. I would, therefore, advise the student to consider all the animals mentioned in the synonyms as of the one kind, the A. Falklandicus of Shaw ; at least, until stronger proofs of dissimilarity be produced to displace the present characteristics, which certainly appeal more to the imagination than to reality. The Arctocephalus Falklandicus may b'e thus described: The males, when aged, are whitish-grey, and between seven and eight feet in length ; when adult, brown-grey to black-grey, and about six feet in length; young, grey, upper portions soon assume darker colours ; pups, black. The females, when adult, are ash-grey to silver-grey, at times golden- buff, frequently spotted ; from three and a half to four and a half feet in length, even more when aged ; pups, black. The under-fur of both sexes is rich reddish, diversified by deeper or lighter shades, and variable in length and abundance ; the whole being influenced by age, sex, and condition. Habitat, Southern Seas generally. The economy of the Southern Fur-Seal has from time to time been luminously portrayed by many writers, and, as mentioned before in page 10, will be found, by perusal of the following extracts, selected from many, to correspond precisely with the habits entertained by the Northern animal. 1 See Mr. Allen's description of the female of the Northern Fur-Seal, p. 11. 2 For many year a sealer by profession, and now residing in Sydney. 16 By Mr. Forster, the companion of the celebrated Captain Cook, we are told, that at Staten's Land, where these animals existed in thousands, " as soon as I was near enough I shot the surly creature dead, and at that instant the whole herd hurried to the sea, and many of them hobbled along with such precipitation as to leap down between forty and fifty perpendicular feet upon the pointed rocks on shore without receiving any hurt, which may be attributed to their fat easily givin way, and their hide being remarkably thick." " The young cubs barke at us, and ran at our heels when we passed, trying to bite our legs." Mr. "Weddell informs us " When these Shetland Seals were first visited, they had no apprehension of danger from meeting men ; in fact they would lie still while their neighbours were killed and skinned, but latterly they had acquired habits for counteracting danger by placing themselves on rocks from which they could in a moment precipitate themselves into the water." "Their sense of smell and hearing is acute, and in instinct they are little inferior to the dog." " These," the females, " in the early part of December begin to land, and they are no sooner out of the water than they are taken possession of by the males, who have many serious battles with each other in procuring their respective seraglios, and by a peculiar instinct they carefully protect the females under their charge during the whole period of their gestation. By the end of December all the females have accomplished the purpose of their landing." " By the middle of February the young are able to take the water, and after being taught to swim by the mother, they are abandoned on the shore, where they remain till their coats of fur and hair are completed." (From - Jardine's "Nat. Libr.") A detailed account of the habits of the Fur-Seal of the Auckland Isles has recently been given by Mr. Musgrave, 1 which he acquired during a compulsory residence in their midst of nearly twenty months. Of the females, he relates that " Their nose resembles that of a dog, but is somewhat broader ; their scent appears to be very acute. The eyes are large, of a green colour, watery and lustreless ; when on shore they appear to be constantly weeping." " In the latter part of December, and during the whole of January, they are on shore a great deal, and go wandering separately through the bush, and into the long grass on the sides of the mountains above the bush, constantly bellowing out in the most dismal manner. They are undoubtedly looking out for a place suitable for calving in. I have known them to go to a distance of more than a mile from the water for this purpose." " Females begin to breed when two years old, and carry their calves eleven months, and suckle them for about three months." "Before they have their calves, the cows lie sometimes in small mobs (from twelve to twenty) , as well as while giving suck, and there is generally one or two bulls in each mob. The cows are evidently by far themost numerous." Of the habits of the very young, he says : " It might be supposed that these animals, even when young, would readily 1 Narrative of the wreck of the " G-rafton." Melbourne, 1865. 17 go into the water that being one of their natural instincts but strange to say such is not the case ; it is only with the greatest difficulty and a wonderful display of patience that the mother succeeds in getting her young in for the first time. I have known a cow to be three days getting her calf down half a mile, and into the water ; and what is most surprising of all, it cannot swim when it is in the water ; this is the most amusing fact : the mother gets it on her back, and swims along very gently on the top of the water ; but the poor little thing is bleating all the while, and continually falling from its slippery position, when it will splutter about in the water precisely like a little boy who gets beyond his depth and cannot swim. Then the mother gets beneath it and it again gets on her back. Thus they go on, the mother frequently giving an angry bellow, the young one constantly bleating and crying, frequently falling off, spluttering and getting on again ; very often getting a slap from the nipper of the mother, and sometimes she gives it a very cruel bite. The poor little animals are very of ten seen with their skins pierced and lacerated in the most frightful manner. In this manner they go on until they have made their passage to whatever place she wishes to take her young one to." The males are described thus : " One of a medium size will measure about 6 feet from nose to tail, and about 6 or 7 feet in circumference, and weigh about 5 hundredweight. They by far exceed these dimensions." " The fur and skin are superior to those of the female, being much thicker." On the neck and shoulders he has a thicker, longer, and much coarser coat of fur, which may almost be termed bristles ; it is from 3 to 4 inches long, and can be ruffled up and made to stand erect at will, which is always done when they attack each other on shore or are surprised sitting as a dog would do, with their head erect and looking towards the object of their surprise, and in this attitude they have all the appearance of a lion." " They begin to come into the bays in the month of October, and remain until the latter end of February, each one selecting and taking up his own particular beat in a great measure ; but sometimes there are several about the same place, in which case they fight most furi- ously, never coming in contact with each other (either in or out of the water) without engaging in the most desperate combat, tearing large pieces of skin and flesh from each other ; their skins are always full of wounds and scars, which however appear to heal very quickly." " At this place we saw hundreds of seals ; both the shores and the water were literally swarming with them, both the tiger and black seal ; but in general the tiger seals keep one side of the harbour, and the black seals, which are much the largest, the other side, but in one instance we saw a black and a tiger seal fighting. They were at it when we first saw them. We watched them about half-an-hour, and left them still hard at it ; they fight as ferociously as dogs, and do not make the least noise, and with their large tusks they tear each other almost to pieces." " There is one seal which we all know particularly well wherever we see him ; he appears to be the king of the mob which belong to Figure of Eight Island. He is a very large dark-coloured 18 bull of the tiger breed ; we have named him Koyal Tom. He is not at all afraid of us when we see him on shore ; if the seals around him run away, Tom will not move, and takes very little notice of us. One day some of the men tried to drive Tom into the water, but he would not move for some time ; but after some trouble I suppose they got him to start; he went leisurely down to 1 the water, and there he remained scratching himself; Tom had a dry coat and did not fancy wetting it just then, and into the water he would not go." " In going up I found seal tracks nearly to the top of the mountain, which I reckon is about 4 miles from the water ; and about 3 miles up I saw a seal." " We killed a cow and her calf this morning ; we got milk from the cow after she was killed, which was very rich and good, and much better even than goat's milk." " The seals are very numerous here ; they go roaring about the woods like wild cattle ; indeed we expect they will come and storm the tent some night. "We live chiefly on seal meat." "- And a one-year-old seal, part of which we had roasted for dinner to-day it was delicious." " One instance came especially under my notice of a cow, whose calf had been killed and taken away from her, roaming about the place where she lost it, incessantly bellowing, and without going into the water consequently going without food for eight days. After the first few days her voice gradually became weaker, and at last could scarcely be heard. I made sure that she was dying. She survived it however, and on the eighth day went into the water." Mr. Morris, in addition to the information already quoted in page 15, has kindly furnished me with the following interesting particulars of the history of the Southern Fur-Seal Fishery and the habits of the animal, which have the advantage of being derived from his own personal experience. From him I learn the following particulars. The females in Septem- ber come on shore to pup, and remain until about March. The pups are born black, but soon change to grey or silvery grey. The herd then go to sea for the remaining portion of the year, returning again in September with regularity. During this absence at sea, the male pups have changed from the grey to a light brown colour, while the females remain unaltered. In New South Wales the sealing trade was at its height from 1810 to 1820 ; the first systematic promoters of which were the Sydney firms of Cable, Lord, & Underwood ; Eiley & Jones ; Birnie ; and Hook & Campbell. The vessels employed by them were manned by crews' of from twenty-five to twenty-eight men each, and were fitted out for a cruise of twelve months. The mode of capture adopted was : the men selected for the shore party would number from six to eighteen, this being regulated by the more or less numerous gathering of the seals seen in the rookery. These men always land well to leeward, as the scent of the animal is very keen, and cautiously keep along the edge of the water, in order to cut off the possibility of retreat : then when abreast of the mob, they approach 19 the seals and drive them up the beach to some convenient spot, as a small nook, or naturally formed inclosure : this accomplished, one or two men go in to the attack, while the others remain engaged in pre- venting outbreaks. As soon as a sufficient number have been slain to erect a wall of the dead, then all hands rush in to the general massacre. To so great an extent was this indiscriminate killing carried, that in two years (1814, 1815) no lees than 400,000 skins were obtained from Penantipod, or Antipodes Island, alone, and necessarily collected in so hasty a manner that very many of them were but imperfectly cured. The ship " Pegasus" took home 100,000 of these in bulk, and on her arrival in London, the skins, having heated during the voyage, had to be dug out of the hold, and were sold as manure a sad and reckless waste of life. Mr. Morris confirms Sir George Simpson and Mr. Musgrave in their account of the affection of the mother for her offspring : " At the time of the slaughter the female utters most piteous cries, alternately looking at you imploringly then at her young one" ; such are his words. AECTOCEPHALUS GBAYII. Gray's Falkland Island Seal. Synonym Arctocepfialus FalJclandicus. Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 65 ; Suppl. 1871, p. 25. "Grey, under-fur red; young blackish ; length 4 feet, 1 " "the fur very soft, elastic ; the nose, cheeks, temples, throat, chest, sides, and under- side of the body, yellowish white. It is easily known from all 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." 2 This is clearly a species distinct from the common Southern fur-seal, and even from the two specimens of the Falkland Island sea-bear in the Edinburgh Museum, with whom it is compared ; " tae fur " of the latter " being considerably darker and harsher 2 " distinctive qualities well and tersely defined. The specific name Falklandicus having been appropriated almost by general consent for another animal, I beg to substitute that of Grayii. ABCTOCEPHALTJS EULOPHUS. Top-knot Seal of Patagonia. Mr. Morris informs me that during his sealing voyages he occasionally met with a fur-seal, which he and those connected with him in the trade readily recognised as a distinct kind by the diminutive size of the adult animal ; by a top-knot of hair on the crown of the head ; and by the soft, beautiful under-fur, unlike in colour to, and much more valuable for articles of ladies' wear than that of any other fur-seal they were in the habit of capturing. 1 B. M. C., p. 55. 2 Suppl., p. 26. 20 Belying upon the accuracy of observation acquired by long ex- perience, I adopt this seal as a new species, and give the description of its appearance, as I received it from Mr. Morris. Length of the adult male about 4 feet, the female being smaller ; the under-fur abundant, in texture fine, and very soft, and, when prime, of a rich plum-colour. Externally the animals are nearly uniform grey, and they possess a silver-grey tuft of hairs, or top-knot, on the head. This seal appears to be rare, only a few specimens having been taken ; some were seen on the south-east coast of New Zealand, evidently stragglers driven far away from home. Mr. Morris has been told that they were formerly common on the shores of Patagonia and the Island of Juan Fernandez. It will be found by comparing this seal with the Arctocephalus Q-rayii, or, Ealklandicus of Dr. G-ray, that in many important respects the two greatly assimilate, and that, in relation to others of the same group, dispersed over the Southern Seas, they in a marked manner alike disagree. Dr. Gray, however, makes no allusion to the top-knot ; but the skin of the adult female in the British Museum, upon which he based the specific characters, may possibly have been imperfect, or deprived of the coronal appendage during the process of preparation for export. "With such a doubt as to the presence or absence of so peculiar a feature in the London specimen, I cannot do otherwise than regard the present animal as a distinct species. HAIE SEALS Adults, with sparse under-fur. Genus ZALOPHFs, 1 Gill. Incisors H, canines Jit, molars ||:=r34. Molars large, thick, closely approximated. The skull, general form narrow ; muzzle narrow ; face considerably produced 2 ; sagittal crest greatly developed. In size intermediate between the Arctocephali and the Otarise, and in external features distinct from either. The adult animals always possess a sparse under-fur. ZALOPHTJS G-ILLESPII, Macbain. Californian Hair Seal. Synonyms Arctocephalus Gilliespii, Gray, B. M. C., p. 55. Zalophus Gillespii, Gray, Suppl., p. 28, Allen, B. M. C. Z., vol. 2, p. 68. Otaria Stelleri, Schlegel. 1 Za, strongly, and \6os, crest ; in allusion to the great development of the sagittal crest of the skull. 2 " In all the skulls we have of the genus (arctocephalus) , a line drawn across the palate at the front edge of the zygomatic arch leaves one-third of the palate behind the line, and two-thirds in front of it ; while in this species, Gilliespii, ifc leaves only one-fourth behind, and very nearly three-fourths in front of the line." Gray, B. M. C., p. 55. 21 The male is larger in size and darker coloured than the female, which latter is described aa being yellowish-brown on the sides, black along the back and head, and reddish-brown on the abdomen. The length of a skeleton in the Chicago Academy of Sciences, said to be that of a very old male, which I doubt exceedingly, would make the living animal somewhat over seven feet in length ; a magnitude inferior to that of the Fur Seal, and greatly so to that of the aged male of the kindred species, the Z. lobatus of the Southern Hemisphere. This skeleton probably represents the remains of an aged female, for the dimension given above would correspond nearly with the size usually attained by our Counsellor Seal of similar sex. Mr. Allen " On the Eared Seals" distinctly states that " the two (Z. Gillespii & Z. lobatus) are nearly of the same size, and seem in general to have similar features." If so, the length acquired by a very old male of the Z. Gillespii would be nearer to eleven than seven feet. Inhab. : Coasts of Japan and California. In 1842 Schlegel described and figured in the Fauna Japonica, a hair seal found on the Japanese coasts, under the name of Otaria Stelleri, and in 1858 Dr. Macbain indicated a new species of seal, from the peculiarities exhibited in the form of a skull, which he obtained from California, now in the Museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, naming it the Otaria Gillespii In the following year Dr. Gray redescribed Dr. Macbain's species, adding a figure, obtained from a cast of the skull. Seven or eight years subsequently, Dr. Peters of Berlin, by the examination of the specimens figured in the " Fauna Japonica," and comparing them with the Edinburgh one, felt assured that Schlegel's and Macbain's animals were of the same species. About this latter period, Dr. Gill having seen other skulls of this species, all of which exhibited constant and radical differences between them and the forms found among the other eared-seals, very properly constituted the genus Zalophus. ZALOPHUS LOBATUS, Gray. The Counsellor Seal. Synonyms Otaria Oinerea, Gray, in King's Narr. Australia. Arctocepfialus lobatus, Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 50. Arctocephalus Australis, Quoy et Gaimard. Gray, B.M.C., p. 57. Zalophus lobatus, Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., p. 44. Neophoca lobata, Gray, Suppl. 1871, p. 28. The general colour of the adult male is black-brown, and that of the female a shade lighter. The pups are black, and covered abundantly with soft fur, which diminishes with age. Very old males will attain to twelve feet in length, but adults from eight to nine feet are usually met with. This species, formerly very abundant in Bass's Straits ; iNT.W. coast of Australia; the Seal Bocks off Port Stephens, &c., is still found tolerably numerous j the commercial value of the animal consisting in 22 the hide and oil only. Mr. Morris informs me he never saw this species at the Auckland Isles. In our Museum there are two stuffed speci- mens of very young animals, and it is much to be regretted that the adults, existing almost at our very doors, should remain unrepresented. HAIK SEALS Adults, without any under-fur. Genus OTAEIA, Peron. Incisors f|, canines ri molars S, or H 34 or 36. Upper outer incisors large, resembling canines ; canines large, of the males extremely so ; teeth of the female altogether much weaker and more sharply pointed than those of the male ; cranium, subject to great individual variation, of the male broad, occipital portion elevated, which, in the very aged becomes immensely developed into crests ; of the female, much narrower, and shallower, almost deficient of any occipital crest ; mandible elongate, strong : limbs large, front feet with rudimentary nails ; hinder, with the three middle nails long, the outer ones rudimentary ; toe-flaps long ; body clothed with hair, with- out any under-fur in the adults ; males much larger than the females, and exhibit greater swimming powers, by possessing flippers proportion- ately much longer and stronger. OTAEIA STELLEEI, Lesson. The Northern, or Steller's, Sea Lion. Synonyms Leo marinus, Steller, 1751. Otaria jubata, Peron, 1816. Otaria Stelleri, Lesson, 1828; Miiller, 1841 ; Gray, B.M.C., 1850, p. 47, and 1866, p. 60; Sclater, P.Z.S., 1868, p. 190. Arctocephalus monteriensis, Gray, P.Z.S., 1859, andB.M.C., 1866, p. 49. Eumetopias Calif brnianus, Grill, 1866. Eumetopias Stelleri, Peters, 1866 ; Gray, A. and M.N.H., 1866 ; Allen, Bull, Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. ii. p. 46 ; Gray, B.M.C. ; Suppl. 1871, p. 46. G-eneral colour : upper portion from pale yellow to reddish-brown, much darker towards the tail ; under portion, dusky reddish-brown, darkest on the hinder part of the abdomen ; frequently assuming a brindled appearance on some parts. Limbs, black-brown. The colour, however, varies much in different individuals irrespective of age or sex. The males attain to 13 feet in length, with a weight of from 1,500 to 1,800 Ibs. : the females are more slender, and scarcely reach to one- fourth the weight of the male. Inhabits the American coast, from California to Behring's Strait, and down the Asiatic coast to the Kurile Islands, 23 This species differs from the O. Jubata by having one pair less of upper molars, and in the modified form of certain portions of the cranium ; but in size, and general proportions, in the character of the hair, and its external colouring, both species bear a close resemblance. From Mr. Allen's excellent treatise on the Eared Seals from which the foregoing information has been derived I extract notices by Captain Bryant and Mr. Lyman, of the habits of this Northern Sea Lion, which will be found to correspond greatly with those of the Southern animal. The former states : " The Sea Lion visits St. Paul's Island 1 in considerable numbers to rear its young " " its habits are the same as those of the Fur-Seal " " its skin is of considerable value as an article of commerce in the territory, it being used in making all kinds of boats, from a one-man canoe to a lighter of twenty tons' burden." "The rookery is on the north-east end of the island, and the animals have to be driven ten or eleven miles to the village to bring their skins to the drying-frames. It sometimes requires five days to make the journey, as at frequent intervals they have to be allowed to rest. It is a somewhat dangerous animal, and the men frequently get seriously hurt in driving and killing it. They are driven together in the same manner as the fur- seals are ; and while impeding each other by treading upon each other's flippers, the small ones are killed with lances, but the larger ones have to be shot. " This animal is the most completely consumed of any on the island. Their flesh is preferred to that of the seal for drying for winter use. After the skins are taken off (2,000 of which are required annually to supply the trading-posts of the territory) they are spread in piles of twenty-five each, with the flesh side down, and left to heat, until the hair is loosened ; it is then scraped off, and the skins are stretched on frames to dry. The blubber is removed from the carcass for fuel, or oil, and the flesh is cut in strips and dried for winter use. The linings of their throats are saved and tanned for making the legs of boots and shoes, and the skin of the flippers is used for the soles. Their stomachs are turned, cleaned, and dried, and are used to put the oil in when boiled out. The intestines are dressed and sewed together into water- proof frocks, which are worn while hunting and fishing in the boats. The sinews of the back are dried and stripped, to make the thread with which to sew together the intestines and to fasten the skins to the canoe-frames." Mr. Theodore Lyman observes : " These rocks (Seal Eocks, near San Francisco) are beset with hundreds of these animals some still, some moving, some on the land, and some in the water. As they approach to effect a landing, the head only appears decidedly above water. This is their familiar element, and they swim with great speed and ease, quite unmindful of the heavy surf, and of the breakers on the ledges. In landing they are apt to take advantage of a heavy wave which helps them to get the forward flippers on terra firma. As the wave 1 Pribyloff group. 24 retreats, they begin to struggle up the steep rocks, twisting the body from side to side, with a clumsy worm-like motion, and thus alternately work their nippers into positions where they may force the body a little onward. It is quite astonishing to see how they will go up surfaces having even a greater inclination than 45, and where a man would have to creep with much exertion." "In their onward path they are accompanied by the loud barking of all the seals they pass, and these cries may be heard at a great distance." " They play among themselves continually by rolling on each other and feigning to bite. Often, too, they will amuse themselves by pushing off those that are trying to land." " As they issue from the water, their fur is dark and shining, but, as it dries, it becomes of a yellowish brown. Then they appear to feel either too dry or too hot, for they move to the nearest point from which they may tumble into the sea. I saw many roll off a ledge at least twenty feet high, and fall like so many huge brown sacks into the water, dashing up showers of spray." OTABIA JUBATA 1 , Porster. The Southern or Cook's Sea Lion. Synonyms Phocajulata, Forster. Otaria jubata, Desmarest, Gray, Suppl. 1871, p. 13. Otaria leonina, Peron, Gray, B.M.C. 1866, p. 59; Peters, 1866. ArctocepJialus HooTceri, $ ? Gray, B.C.M. 1866, p. 53. Phocarctos Hoofceri, 9 ? Gray, Suppl. 1871, p. 15. Sea Lion, Hamilton, Jard.: Nat. Libr., vol. 6, p. 237. Inhabits Magellanic coast, Terra dell Euego, Falkland and Auckland Islands, &c. The external colouring of the hair, greatly diversified from birth to old age, exhibits not only the more permanent tinge acquired for the year after each shedding of the coat, but those intermediate changes which occur through the transitional state. It becomes, therefore, very difficult to recognize in full the many superficial tints, so as to suit the varying conditions of growth, but I may venture to offer the following summary of the colouration, collected from the best authorities at my disposal : The pups of both sexes, black-brown, or very deep chocolate ; nape of the neck and belly somewhat lighter ; under-fur very sparse and reddish, sensibly diminishing with age. The male, young, above rich brown, beneath pale yellowish adult, rich dark brown to brown grey ; beneath brownish or yellowish white; mane with a brinded yellow and brown shade aged, whitish grey. The female, young and adult, light brown, grey, or dark grey; abdomen, yellowish grey to light drab. 1 Having a mane, maned. 25 It is recorded by Captain Cook and Mr. Forster that the largest male seen by them was fourteen feet in length, with a weight of about 1,600 Ibs., but such a size is now very rarely met with in this persecuted race, and a male of nine or ten feet would, in the present day, be con- sidered an animal of unusual bulk. The head is small in proportion to the bulk of the body, and pug- like in expression ; the upper lip overhangs the lower one, and both are furnished with long, coarse, black bristles ; the body is thick and cylindrical, more suited for rolling than walking. These animals herd together in great numbers, but each group consists of one male and ten or twelve adult females, with a family of from fifteen to twenty young ones, from the sucking cub to the yearling. According to Captain Cook " it is not at all dangerous to go among them, for they either fled or lay still. The only danger was in going between them and the sea, for, if they took fright at any thing, they would come down in such numbers that if you could not get out of their way you would be run over. When we came suddenly upon them, or waked them out of their sleep (for they are sluggish, sleepy animals), they would raise up their heads, snort and snarl, and look fierce, as if they meant to devour us ; but, as we advanced upon them, they always ran away, so that they are downright bullies." And Mr. Porster, in his description of them, says : " We put into a little cove, under the shelter of some rocks, and fired at some of these fierce animals, most of whom immediately threw themselves into the sea. Some of the most unwieldy, however, kept their ground, and were killed by our bullets. The noise which all the animals of this kind made was various, and sometimes stunned our ears. The old males snort and roar like mad bulls or lions ; the females bleat exactly like calves, and the young cubs like lambs." SEALS without external ears. Molars single-rooted. Family II. TEICHECHID.E. 1 WALRUS, or MOBSE.* Incisors ^ canines ~[, molars J| = 34 in young animal. & S, g = 18 in the old animal. Upper canines prolonged downwards into enormous tusks ; molars small, slightly lobed, single-rooted ; head round, obtuse ; muzzle large, very broad ; lips thick, covered with coarse, strong, semi-transparent, bristles ; nostrils large, placed high on the muzzle ; eyes small, prominent ; , head with bristles, and e;ta>, having. 2 Morss, Russian name of the animal. 26 mouth comparatively small ; fore and hind limbs of same size ; fingers of anterior feet nailless, the outer one longest ; toes of posterior feet provided with small pointed nails, the inner toes longest, the inner and outer toes lobed ; tail very short, rudimentary ; mammas four, ventral ; body exceedingly bulky, broadest round the chest ; males and females of nearly the same size ; hind limbs free, bent forward in repose ; progression on land principally effected by the abdominal muscles ; movements slow in water or on land ; in habits sluggish, monogamous, and gregarious. The Trichechus 1 Rosmarus, 2 Walrus, 2 Morse, 3 Sea-horse, Sea-cow, &c., is the only species known of this family one so singularly conspicuous among the many strange forms which peculiarize the members of this order as to be instantly recognized. It is sufficient, then, without entering into comparative detail with other species, to allude to the two long and powerful canines, exserted from the upper jaw, and to the massive bones of the convex skull, modified wholly with reference to these enormously developed tusks, as forms of structure unpossessed by any other of the seal tibe, and consequently as being strikingly distinctive. These tusks are sometimes two feet long, proportionately thick, and weigh between eight and ten pounds each. They are much prized, for the ivory of which they are composed is denser and of a more permanent white than that of the elephant, and it, therefore, is more intrinsically valuable as an article of export. The "Walrus commonly measures from 10 to 14 feet in length ; but an old male will reach to 20 feet, or even more, and in its bulk it corresponds to that of a large ox, although occasionally it will attain the dimensions of the elephant. The skin is thick, from one to two inches, black and smooth, and sparingly covered with short, stiff, hairs ; in the adult, of a pale brown colour ; in the young, blackish ; and in the aged, of a whitish hue. Inhabit. : The icy regions of the North. 4 These animals appear to be omnivorous in their diet, for marine plants, molluscs, shrimps, cray-fish, and even portions of young seals, have been found in their stomachs. When unmolested, they are quiet and inoffensive creatures, passing their existence harmoniously, in vast flocks upon rocky banks, or along sandy beaches, and during repose lie frequently huddled one over the other, like swine, delighting in solitudes far away from the haunts of man. rpix6s, head with bristles, and e'xw, having. JRosmar, Norwegian name of Walrus, or Sval-ros, Whale-horae. 3 Morss, Russian name of the animal. 4 Arctic and Antarctic Regions, Wood, Illust. Nat. Hist., p. 515. Polar Regions of both Hemispheres, Sket. Nat. Hist., 1849, p. 199. St. Lorenzo,, near Callao, Bonelli, Trav. in Bolivia. 27 But when roused into anger in the defence of their young, or on being goaded with wounds, they then become formidable and dangerous enemies. Many interesting anecdotes are related of their strength and ferocity under these circumstances, but Captain Cook's short and expressive narative of their habits must for the present suffice. " The female will defend her young one to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether in the water or on the ice ; nor will the young one quit the dam, though she be dead ; so that if you kill one, you are sure of the other." Again, " the female in particular, whose young had been destroyed and taken into the boat became so enraged, that she attacked the cutter and stuck her tusks through the bottom of it." The flesh is highly valued, and greedily eaten by the natives ; the skin being thick and tough, is useful for many purposes ; in ancient times, when cut into strips and plaited, it formed the ropes and cables for the vessels of northern countries, and the finer portions made into lines, were used for the capture of whales. In modern times the skins are sent to America and England, and manufactured into carriage, traces and other harness, or rendered down into glue ; the oil, although not abundant, is superior in quality ; but the teeth constitute the most valuable product of this animal, for the ivory being of a beautiful texture, and capable of retaining its whiteness, is extensively used by the Chinese, for the wonderful knick-knacks and other curiosities they prpduce from the lathe and by Europeans, for the supply of artificial teeth, and many kinds of ornamental work dependent on these properties. Family III. CYSTOPHORID^l. 1 SEA ELEPHANT : HOODED SEAL. Incisors U canines jpf, molars 5 30. Outer incisors large, formed like the canines ; molars with small compressed crowns and greatly swollen single roots ; head short, broad ; muzzle of the males furnished with a dilatable bladder-like appendage ; whiskers, long, thickish, waved, obtuse at their tips ; nostrils large ; eyes large, prominent ; nails elongated, pointed, obsolete in the hinder feet of the macrorhinus ; tail very short. The animals during pro- gression on land move principally by means of the abdominal muscles and extremely flexible spine, assisted materially by their flippers. In repose the hind limbs are stretched backwards in a line with the body. In habits polygamous and gregarious. Genus MACRORHINTTS, F. Cuvier. Sea Elephants. Ther adult males possess the power of elongating the nose into a tubular proboscis, resembling somewhat the proboscis of the elephant. In the female this dilatable appendage is undeveloped. Forehead, , a bladder, and 4>epo> I bear. The generic name Cystophora is likewise applied to the species of a marine plant, allied to the gulf- weed. 28 convex ; hairs of the whiskers very long, large, roundish, and slightly waved ; similar hairs in tufts over each eye and on each cheek ; fore feet with longish claws, the first one being the smallest ; hind feet with the outer toes large, the three middle ones small, all of them without nails ; eyes large and prominent. MACEOEHDfUS 1 ELEPHANTHOJS, 2 Molina. Synonyms PJioca elepJiantina, Molina. PJioca proboscidea, Peron, Cuvier, Hamilton. Macrorhinus prciboscideus, P. Cuvier, 1827. Mirownga proloscidea and Ansonii, Gray, 1827. Oystophora proboscidea, Nilsson, 1837. Morunga elephantina, Gray, B.M.C. S. & W., 1866, p. 38, Suppl. 1871, p. 4. Miourounga. Australian Aboriginals. The sea elephants retain the semi- terrestrial habits of the eared seals, although they differ so materially from them in the structure of the posterior extremities, these becoming so confined within the integuments of the body as to possess but little or no power of motion. This cramped condition of the hinder limbs, common to the whole of the seal tribe, with the exception of the eared-seals and the walrus, is in this species slightly mitigated by the thick and fitout form of the pelvic bones, which permits a freer use of these members, and by the greater expansion and stoutness of the shoulder-blades, which strengthen the flippers, and render their assistance more effective ; so that a power of locomotion on land is attained of an intermediate character between that exhibited by the Otariadae and Phocidaa. The sea elephants were formerly found in great abundance inhabiting many of the numerous islands lying between the thirtieth degree of south latitude even to the verge of the antarctic circle, as Juan Eer- >> nandez, Staten Island, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan d'Acunha, Kergeulen's Land, and other spots, where sandy beaches and fresh-water swamps exist : a geographic range so vast, as to comprise at least two-thirds of the whole area of that portion of the Southern Seas comprised within the latitudinal belt above specified. 'Their powers of locomotion, however, are so great, that frequent stragglers have been captured on the coasts of Australia. In fact, it appears that this animal affords another illustration of the extensive habitat originally enjoyed by certain species, such as the Sea Lions and the Seals of Commerce of the North and the South, until driven away by continuous persecution to seek the more restricted and outlying homes adequate for their reduced numbers. 1 naicpts, long, and piv, the nose. 3 of an elephant. 29 This enormous creature, commonly twenty feet in length, is not only by far the largest among the seal-tribe, but the aged male, acquiring a length of thirty feet and a girth of twenty, will double the dimensions of the great elephant itself. This huge mass, tremulous with fat, and the peculiar prolongation of the nostrils when the animal is excited, to a foot beyond the lips, are of themselves sufficiently characteristic ; but to complete the description it may be added, that in colour the males are usually greyish, or bluish grey, rarely blackish-brown, and that the females are olive brown above, passing into yellowish-bay beneath, and very much smaller in size in every admeasurement of the body. In disposition these seals are mild, fearless, and apathetic, avoiding intercourse with man by tenanting the most desolate shores, and when intruded upon by him, showing no resentment, so that he may walk amongst them without fear, and even bathe in their midst without risk of injury, so long as they are left in peace to indulge in a slothful exis- tence, spent principally in wallowing in the mud or reposing among the long grass, which luxuries they enjoy in social herds of thousands, until the general harmony is temporarily disturbed by the advent of the season of courtship, when, madly roused, the males are urged into desperate conflicts with each other. " These seals," observes Captain Carmichael, in his description of the island of Tristan d'Acunha, " pass the greater part of their time on shore ; they may be seen in hundreds lying asleep along the sandy beach, or among the long grass which borders the sea-shore. " These huge animals are so little apprehensive of danger that they must be kicked or pelted with stones before they make any effort to move out of one's way. When roused from their slumber, they raise the fore part of their body, open wide their mouth, and display a for- midable set of tusks, but never attempt to bite. Should this, however, fail to intimidate their disturbers, they set themselves at length in motion, and make for the water, but with such deliberation, that on an excursion we once made to the opposite side of the island, two of our party were tempted to ride upon the back of one of them and rode him fairly into the water." It is said by another authority, that when the females produce their young, the males form a line between them and the sea to prevent the desertion of their charge, even for the shortest space of time. This period of nursing and imprisonment lasts for seven or eight weeks, during which time the females are debarred from food, and become extremely emaciated. When taken young, they are easily tamed and become very affec- tionate : one petted by an English sailor became so attached to his master, from kind treatment for a few months, that it would come at his call, allow him to mount upon hia back and put his hands into its mouth. 30 The fishers use, in order to kill them, a lance twelve or fifteen feet long, with a sharp iron point of about two feet. With great address they seize the moment when the animal raises his fore-paw to advance, and plunging the weapon to the heart, he immediately falls down drenched in blood. The females rarely offer the least opposition when attacked, but they endeavour to fly ; if prevented, their countenance assumes the expression of despair, and they weep piteously. 1 " I have myself," says M. Peron, " seen a young female shed tears 1 abundantly, whilst one of our wicked and cruel sailors amused himself at the sight, knocking out her teeth with an oar, whenever she opened her mouth. The poor animal might have softened a heart of stone, its mouth streaming with blood and its eyes with tears." The Elephant Seal is valued on account of the oil which it yields in abundance, an adult male averaging seventy gallons, and which in quality is limpid, free from smell, never becoming rancid, and in burning, smokeless. The hide, also, is from its strength and thickness, extensively used for carriage and horse harness. New Georgia alone formerly supplied the English market with twenty thousand gallons of oil annually ; this article being from its quality greatly adapted for softening wool, and for other purposes in the manufacture of cloth. The food of this animal appears to consist principally of cuttle-fish and sea-weed. Gill. Califomian Sea Elephant. Synonym Morimga angustirostris, Gray, Supp. B.M.C. S. & W. 1871, p. 5. This species, introduced recently to our notice by Dr. Theodore Gill, of "Washington, is the northern representative of the Sea-Elephants, so long and so well known in our hemisphere. Both kinds appear to be equally bulky, but differ principally in the narrower muzzle possessed by the American animal. Inhabits California, from Cape San Lucas to Point Reyes. Genus CTSTOPHOEA, Gray. Adult males possess a dilatable globular sac-like appendage upon the crown of the head, immediately connected by a cartilaginous crest with the nostrils, and which, by their agency, can be distended or collapsed at will. In the females and the young this singular hood is rudimentary, scarcely perceptible. Muzzle very broad, hairy ; hairs of the whiskers long, whitish, waved, compressed at their base ; those of the body long and coarse, with an under-fur, short, soft, and thick ; the limbs are all distinctly clawed. 1 Evidently a common and natural habit, quite irrespective of anguish, for " when on shore, they" (the fur seals of the Auckland Islands) " appear to be constantly weeping." Captain Musgravs Narrative. 2 angustus, narrow, and rostrum, beak or enout. 31 CYSTOPHORA CBISTATA. JSrxlehen. Crested or Hooded Seal. Synonyms PJioca cristata, Erxl. Phoca mitrata, Cuvier. Cystophora cristata, Nilsson. Gray, B.M.C., 1866, p. 41. Stemmatopus cristatus, F. Cuvier. Stemmatopus mitratus, Gray. Phoca leonina, Linnseus. Hooded Seal, Pennant. Bladder -nose of Sealers. This seal is from 8 to 12 feet in length, and in the different stages of growth varies considerably in colour, which in the full-grown male is dark brown, approaching to black, relieved by numerous largish, irregularly shaped rings of a greyish hue, scattered over the body. The young are much lighter coloured, from grey to brown-grey along the back, with the abdominal portion white. Speculative writers have ascribed to this bladder-like appendage many uses to which it can be beneficially applied such as, that, being connected with the nostrils, it is subsidiary to the sense of smell, that it is a reservoir for air, to be consumed when under water, that the head can be buried in it, as in a monk's hood, and that it can be drawn over the eyes, like a cap, to defend them against the storms, waves, stones, and sand. I need scarcely say that to attribute such properties to this peculiar sac is purely hypothetic ; for the young males even up to three years old and all the females, exhibit this peculiarity only in a rudimentary state, yet have their faculties in or out of water as keenly developed and as well protected from those injuries to which they are alike exposed. This dilatable globular appendage on the top of the head, however, clearly indicates in this species the puberal maturity of the male, and serves to modulate the voice, and to give it those inflections of tones so highly expressive of desire or rage. Inhabits the North Atlantic. This animal, the Harp, the Ringed and the Common Seal, are objects of extensive capture chiefly for the sake of their skins, which, by care- ful preparation, can be applied to many useful and ornamental purposes. By the natives of Greenland every portion is converted to some valuable use : the flesh, the oil, and the blood, are greedily consumed ; their houses are covered with, and their boats made of, the skins of the older animals ; and these are firmly sewn together by the strong fibres of the sinews ; while the soft fur furnishes various articles of apparel ; the stomachs are converted into fishing buoys ; the semi-transparent internal membrane provides the substitute of glass for their windows j and the teeth form their spear-heads. 32 The Esquimaux seal hunter, in taking any of these animals, proceeds thus : " Having ascertained by an examination of the ice that a seal is near at hand (and he can discover this by the small hole left by the animal to enable him to raise his head above the water to breathe) he sets to work to form a kind of arm-chair of square lumps of ice, the back of course placed to the windward, when, resting his spear, to which a long line is attached, on a small piece of ice, so that he may lift it with the least possible noise, he places himself in this comfortless seat, and patiently awaits, perhaps for hours, the return of the animal to his blow-hole." In their domestic habits the Crested Seals resemble the other poly- gamous groups, existing at certain times in comparative harmony with their neighbours, at others, the whole community becomes involved in strife. Molars, more or less, with double roots. Family IV. PHOCHXS. 1 Monk Seal, Common Seal, Grey Seal, Sea Leopard, &c. Hind limbs, when at rest on land, are directed backwards nearly in a line with the body, by the integuments of which they are so enveloped and confined as to possess but little or no power of motion, the feet been capable of moving only in an obliquely lateral direction. The progression on land, therefore, like that of the preceding family, but more restricted, is effected by means of the abdominal muscles and extremely flexible spine, assisted materially by the front limbs. In many other important portions of their structure, they likewise differ greatly from the Eared Seals : the skull is but moderately crested ; the shoulder-blade is reduced in size ; the pelvis is comparatively small, and in its form exhibits no unusual sexual difference, being alike broad in both sexes ; and the pelvic bones are thin and slender. The hair which thickly clothes the body is short, closely pressed against the skin, more or less soft and woolly, and extensively used in the manu- facture of articles of wear, although greatly deficient in quality to the under-fur which distinguishes the Eur Seal of commerce. Genus MotfAcnus, 2 Fleming. Synonyms Pelagios? E. Ctivier, Gray. Pelagius? E. Cuvier, Eischer, ISTilsson. Incisors , canine 8 ri, molars 32. Upper incisors indented transversely at their edge, so that the lower ones, when the mouth is closed, fill up these indentations. Molars crowded, obtusely pointed, slightly lobed ; anterior one of each jaw 1 From 4>c6/c7j, phoca, a seal. 8 A monk. 3 That lives in the sea. 33 t with a single root, the others with two roots ; claws of fore feet rather flat, of hinder ones conical, very small ; whiskers stiff, short, smooth ; muzzle with a slight central groove. The crests of the skull, and the expansion of the shoulder-blade, are more strongly developed in this genua than in the following ones. MotfACHUS 1 ALBiYENTEE, 3 Boddaert. Monk Seal. Synonyms PJioque a venire blanc, Buffon, Cuvier. PJioca monachus, 1 Herm, Desmarest. Pelagic** monackus, 1 F. Cuvier, Blainville, Owen. Pelagius 2 ' monachus, 1 Nilsson, Gray. PJioca albiventer* Boddaert. Mediterranean Seal, Shaw. Monachus albiventer, Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 19. The well-known sub-tropical Seal has been long considered as the only representative of the genus, and I believe it is still so regarded by the generality of writers on the animals of this order ; although Dr. Gray, in the Catalogue and Supplement, so continually referred to, has introduced another, a tropical species, 4 from the distinctive characters afforded by an imperfect skin, which the British Museum received from Jamaica. It is to be understood, however, that the foregoing generic characteristics are derived from the Monk, or White- bellied Seal of the Mediterranean. Inhabits both shores of and the islands in the Mediterranean, and said occasionally to be found at Madeira and the Canaries. Fully-grown adults are from 10 to 12 feet in length. Monk Seals have upon several occasions been partially domesticated, and thus opportunities have been given for ascertaining many of their ways and disposition. One, a few years ago, was exhibited in London as the " Talking Fish" ; at the word of command, it would utter various sounds, from a bark to the hoarse bellow of a bull, would offer its lips to be kissed, and perform within its tub many pleasing feats of agility. Buffon, F. Cuvier, and other eminent men, have at different times availed themselves of similar chances for observation, and fortunately have recorded minutely their experience. The former naturalist, in describing a male taken in the Adriatic, remarks : " The white-bellied Seal we saw in December, 1778. Its aspect is mild, and its disposition not fierce ; its eyes are quick and intelligent, or, at all events, they ex- press the sentiments of affection and attachment to its master, whom it obeys with the utmost readiness. At his order we have seen it lay down its head, turn in various directions, roll round and round, raise the fore-parts of its body quite erect in its trough, and shake hands 1 A monk. a That lives in the sea. 3 Aldus, vr hite, and venter belly. 4 B. M. C. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 20. Alonachus tropicalis. 34 with him. Previous to being tamed, it bit its master furiously when interfered with, but when subdued, it became quite mild, so that it could be handled with all freedom. You might thrust the hand into its mouth, and rest your head on that of the Seal. When its master called, it answered, however distant it might be ; it looked round for him when it did not see him, and on discovering him after an absence of a few minutes, never failed to testify joy by a loud murmur. Some of its accents were sweet and expressive, and seemed the language of pleasure and delight. " The period between its several inspirations was very long, and in the interval the nostrils were accurately closed, during which time they appeared like two longitudinal slits on the end of the snout. The creature opened them to make a strong expiration, which was immedi- ately followed by an inspiration, after which it closed them as before ; and often allowed two minutes to intervene without taking another breath. The breathing was accompanied with a loud snuffling noise. When drowsy, it did not promptly attend to its master, and it was only by putting food under its very nose that it could be excited to its accustomed energy and vivacity. It then raised its head and the upper part of its body, supporting itself on its fore-paws, to the height of the hand which held the fish ; for it was scarcely satisfied with any other aliment, having a preference for carp, and still more for eels ; these, though raw, were seasoned to its taste by rolling them in salt. It re- quired about 30 fts. of these live fish every day ; it greedily swallowed the eels entire, and even the carp which were first offered it, but, after devouring two or three entire, it subjected them to some preparation by crushing their heads with its teeth, then partially gutting them, and concluded by gulping them head-foremost. This individual was 7 feet long ; its skin was covered with a short, smooth, shining hair of a brown colour, mixed with grey principally upon the neck and head, where it was spotted ; the fur was thicker on the back and side than on the belly, where there was a large white marking, which mounted up upon the flanks. The nostrils were neither inclined nor were they placed as in terrestrial quadrupeds, but extended vertically on the extremity of the snout. The eyes were large, full, of a brown colour, and like those of an ox." M. P. Cuvier furnishes in 1813 a detailed description of a female Seal which was captured in 1811 ; from which memoir the following short extracts are taken. " For two years it has been kept in a trough, which scarcely exceeds its own dimensions, being only one foot longer, and two feet broader than itself. It every day receiTes several pounds of fresh- water fish, and usually spends nine or ten consecutive hours in water ten- inches deep. At the close of the day the water is removed, that the animal may be dry during the night, and, in spite of this artificial mode of life, it enjoys excellent health. " The length of this animal is between seven and eight feet, and the general form is very like that of the common Seal. Its colour in the 35 water is black on the head, back, tail, and upper part of the feet, whilst the chest, sides, and belly, and the under portion of the neck, tail, paws, and sides of the head, are of a yellowish light grey. When it is dry, the black portions are not so deeply coloured, and the white parts are more yellow. The skin is everywhere of a slaty colour. The tail is three inches long, and without movement ; the eyes are large, and the cornea is very flat in comparison with other quadrupeds ; two hairs, similar to those of the lip, are seen above each eye ; the pupil exactly resembles that of the domestic cat ; the nostrils are naturally closed, and open only at the will of the animal ; the ear has no trace of an external auricle ; the orifice of the auditory canal is situated nearly opposite the tympanum. It sleeps during the live-long night, and cannot be kept awake during the day without the most unceasing perseverance. During sleep it is often observed covered with the water at the bottom of its trough, where of course it cannot breathe, and there it continues for an hour at a time." The habits of the animals of this species in a state of nature are similar to those of the created Seals. Genus PHOCA, Linnaeus. -r 3-3 1-1 i 5-5 0/< Incisors 5^, canines ITT, molars ^ = 34. Incisor small, pointed ; molars, placed in an oblique position along the jaws, moderately large-lobed, somewhat crowded ; anterior one of each jaw with a single root, all the others double-rooted ; teeth of moderate size ; whiskers small, waved ; muzzle with a distinct central groove ; fingers gradually shortening from the first to the inner one, the Leporine Seal excepted ; toes, inner and outer ones large, long, the middle ones shorter ; claws large, conical, sharp ; habits similar to the preceding genus. PHOCA VITTTLIKA.,* Linnaeus. Common Seal. Synonyms Callocephalus l vituUnus. z 'F. Cuvier, Gray, B. M. C., p. 20. Common Seal, Pennant. Phoqve commune, Buffon. Sea-Calf, or Sea-Dog of Sailors. Meerhund, Zeekund, Seelhzmd^ of the G-ermans, Butch, and Danes. The Common Seal furnishes another example to those previously given of the wide geographic range enjoyed by many animals of the same species. By means of well authenticated specimens, it is ascer- tained to inhabit nearly every coast washed by the cold waters of the Northern Seas, and it is moreover found in the salt sea of the isolated Caspian, and, far distant from the ocean, in the fresh waters of the 1 Ka\6s t beautiful, and /eeaATf, the head. 2 Vttvlinwt, calf-like. 36 Lake Baikal ; that is to say, in general terms, from Greenland eastward into Eastern Siberia. This nearly circumpolar belt of occupation is fully as extensive and infinitively more difficult to comprehend than the extensive habitat I attribute to the Arctocephalus Ealklandicus, and would afford more reasonable grounds to the supporters of the theory of limited location, 1 for the separation into species, if not into genera, of the several examples of this familiar animal. The colour of the Common Seal, is on the upper portion of the body, yellowish-brown of various shades, but commonly dark, and frequently mottled, or spotted over with darker : beneath much paler, yellowish- white. The usual length is from four to six feet, but an aged male will exceed these dimensions, and it has been known to weigh two hundred and twenty -four pounds. Inhabits Greenland, the North Sea, the Baltic, the Caspian Sea, and Lake Baikal. It is still found in considerable numbers on the English, Scottish, and Irish Coasts. To describe all of the ascertained habits of this seal in the state of nature, or when semi-domesticated, would amount in many instances simply to the repetition of anecdotes already given of other members of the family ; but I will offer a few additional descriptive extracts of manners and disposition, which, although derived exclusively from this species, will tend materially towards perfecting our knowledge of a group so wonderfully similar in every important feature of organization. Professor Trail relates that, " A young seal, about two and a half feet long, would suck one's fingers readily, was greedily fond of milk, and seemed a social animal. When thrown into the sea, it speedily returned to the shore, and made back for its favourite position, the kitchen hearth, the stone of which was elevated about four inches above the floor, and it generally laid itself so close to the embers of a peat fire burning there, that it often singed its fur." 3 " One in particular became so tame that he lay along the fire among the dogs, bathed in the sea, and returned to the house : but having found his way to the byres 3 , used to steal there and suck the cows ; on this account he was discharged and sent to his native element." 4 " During a residence of some years in one of the Hebrides, I had many opportunities of witnessing this peculiarity (partiality for musical and other sounds), and, in fact, could call forth its manifestation at pleasure. In walking along the shore in the calm of a summer afternoon, a few notes of my flute would bring half a score of them within thirty or forty yards of me, and there they would swim about, with their heads above water, like BO many black dogs, evidently delighted with the sounds. For half-an-hour, or indeed, for any length of time I chose, I could fix them to the spot ; and when 1 " We now know that the species (Otariada) hare a very limited geographical distribution." Gray. Suppl. 1871, 8. & W. p. 7. 2 Naturalist's Library, p. 134. a Eyre, Scotch, a cow-house. 4 Mr. L. Edmonstone. 37 I mored along the water's edge, they would follow me with eagerness, like the dolphins who, it ia said, attended Arion, as if anxious to pro- long their enjoyment. I have frequently witnessed the same effect when out on a boat excursion. The sound of a flute, or of a common fife, blown by one of the boatmen, was no sooner heard, than half-a- dozen would start up within a few yards, whirling round us as long as the music played, and disappearing one after another when it ceased. 1 " " The church of Hoy, in Orkney, is situated in a small sandy bay, much frequented by these creatures ; and I observed, when the bell rang for divine service, all the seals within hearing swam directly to the shore, and kept looking about them, as if surprised, rather than frightened, and in this manner continued to wonder as long as the bell rang." " Whilst I and my pupils," says Mr. Dunbar, " were bathing, as was our custom, in the bosom of a beautiful bay, named Seal Bay, in Orkney, numbers of these creatures invariably made their appearance, especially if the weather was calm and sunny, and the sea smooth, crowding us at the distance of a few yards, and looking as if they had some kind of notion that we were of the same species, or at least, genus, with themselves. " The gambols in the water of my playful companions, and their noi*e and merriment, seemed to our imagination to excite the seals, and to make them course around us with greater rapidity and animation. At the same time, the slightest attempt on our part to act on the offensive, by throwing at them a stone or shell, was the signal for their instan- taneous disappearance ; each, as it vanished, leaving the surface of the waters beautifully figured with a wavy succession of concentric circles." PHOCA -F(ETiDA 2 , Miiller. The Ringed Seal. Synonyms Phocafcetidd?, Miiller. 1 PJwca hispida*, Erxleben O. Pabricius. Phocafasciata* 1 , Shaw. PJioca awnellata 6 , Nilsson. Gallocephalus hispidus 3 , P. Cuvier. Pagomysfoetidus z , Gray, B. M. C., S. and W. 1866, p. 23. Inhabits Greenland North Sea Lake Baikal. This species is about the size and build of the preceding one, but is readily distinguished by the marbled disposition of the colouring of the hair on the upper portions of the body, which appearance is caused by numerous whitish ovate ocellated spots, about two inches long, distributed over a brown ground colour, darkest along the back, and paling beneath to nearly white. The young are of a darker hue, and their skins are not relieved by the annular spots. 1 Mr. Lizars. 2 Fcetidus, stinking, rank. 3 Hitpidu9 t rough., shaggy. 4 Fasciatus, banded. 5 Amttlfatut, with little rings. 38 Old males are said to acquire a disgusting smell, from which un- enviable circumstance the Latin specific name has been derived. PHOCA G-BCENLAKDiCA 1 , Miiller. The Harp Seal. Synonyms Phoca Grcenlandica, Miiller. O. Fabricius. Phoca oceanica?, Lepechin Fischer. Jardine's Nat. Lib. OallocepJialus grcenlandicus. F. Cuvier. Pagophilus gr&nlandicus. Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 25. Harp-Seal, Pennant, Bell, Hamilton. Inhabits Greenland, North Sea. " Until six or seven weeks old, white, called white coats at Newfound- land ; at one year old they have small spots ; at two years old they have large spots, and the males are called Lampiers ; at three years old the males and females have the harp-shaped band, and are then called saddle-backs."* The fur of the adult is greyish-white, the back being marked by a blackish horse-shoe-shaped band, arching backwards from the shoulder to within a few inches of the tail. This band is broad at the sides, while its outline is very irregular ; the anterior half of the head exhibits the same deep brownish-black colour of the band. The Harp Seal is very abundant in the deep bays and mouths of rivers along the coast of Greenland, living among the floating masses of ice, and preying principally upon the Arctic salmon and other fish and occasionally upon molluscs. In size and general make it resembles the two preceding animals, but its fur and oil are alleged to be of better quality than theirs. PHOCA BABBATA,* O. Fabricius. The Leporine Seal. 5 Synonyms Phoca barbata, O. Fabricius ; Muller, Nilsson, Fischer, &c. Phoca leporina, 6 Lepechin. Callocephalus leporinus, F. Cuvier. Phoca barbata, Gray, B. M. C., 1866, p. 31. Leporine Seal, Pennant. This Seal and the following one are frequently mistaken for each other, for they bear a general external resemblance, are similar in size, being by far the largest of the species which I have attached to this family, and both are found on the British and Irish Coasts. Their structural characters and habits, however, vary so much as to render them palpably distinct. The ordinary length of the adult animal may be taken at about nine feet, but the aged will reach to twelve feet, or even more. In colour, 1 Greenland. * - ; 3 Oceanic. 3 Jukes, Newfoundland. 4 Bearded. 5 Hare-like. This species is likewise known as the Great Seal, the Great Bearded Seal, the Hare-like Seal. 39 the male is brownish-black, fading into yellowish on the abdominal parts ; the young are much lighter in hue, which assumes a greenish cast. The females are similarly coloured, but the underneath portion is greyish. This species differs from the preceding ones, in having the central finger the longest, and the outer and inner ones the shortest. Inhabits the Northern Seas, and occasionally found on the Scottish and Northern Coasts of England. Genus ELiLiCHCERUS, 1 Nilsson. Incisors &, canines J^, molars, {pj ~ 34. Canines moderate in size ; molars conical ; upper ones simple ; lower ones slightly lobed ; the two posterior ones on each side of the upper jaw, and the posterior one of the lower, are double-rooted ; the remain- ing ones with single roots : head very flat ; bones of the face strongly developed : brain comparatively very small ; muzzle simple, broad, rounded, truncated ; whiskers notched at their edges ; claws conical, elongated, sharp. Habits very moderately gregarious ; scarcely susceptible of domesti- cation. HALiCHffiETis 1 GBYPUs, 2 O. Fabricius. The Grey Seal. Synonyms Phoca grypw, O. Fabricius. Haliclicerus grypus, Nilsson, Gray, B. M. C., 1866, p. 34. Grey Seal, Bell, Brit : Quad. Dr. Ball, of Dublin, in his excellent account of the habits of the Grey Seal, remarks that its colour varies so much from eex, age, season, &c., that it cannot be regarded of value as a specific character ; which observation, as I have before pointed out, is equally applicable to many species other than the animal he is describing. It is, however, readily distinguished by the more permanent characters of a straight profile, fierce aspect, and greater proportionate length of body to the rotundity. In its habits it is usually solitary, associating only in small parties, and in its disposition devoid of that intelligence and mildness so strikingly conspicuous in others of its kind. " My father,'/ writes Dr. Ball, " has made several attempts to rear and tame this seal, but in vain. It appears scarcely susceptible of domestication, and the development of the skull seems to indicate as much ; for the size of the brain of a specimen nearly eight feet long did not exceed that of one of the common seal (Ph. vitulina) of less than four." To which convincing fact, Mr. Bell, in the 1st volume of his "British Quadrupeds," adds, " It is impossible not to be forcibly struck with the contrast between the cerebral development of this genus and that of the former, and the relation between the difference 1 &A.s, the sea, x^P s > hog or pig. 2 ypw6s, having the beak hooked, 40 i of structure and their susceptibility of domestication. It is exactly analogous to the distinction between the crania of baboons and those of the higher groups of quadrumanous animals." In colour the very young female is of a dull yellowish- white, which in a month or six weeks becomes variously blotched with grey ; as the animal advances in age, these blotches almost disappear on the upper part of the body, but they remain very distinct on the lower part and on the breast. From a peculiarity in the hair of the adult, it being con- siderably recurved, and as if its upper surface were scraped flat with a knife, the animal, when dry, and with its head turned towards the spectator, appears of a uniform silver grey, whilst viewed in the opposite direction it appears altogether of a sooty brown colour, the spots or blotches being only visible on a side view. The young male has long yellowish hair, slightly tinged with brownish-black along the back. The grey seal will sometimes attain a length of twelve feet, and a weight of 650 Ibs., but such large specimens are seldom encountered. Nilsson states that in the Baltic it is a solitary animal, but on the coasts of Ireland, where it is still numerous, and on those of Scotland, this species is unquestionably gregarious, associating in small families of from ten to fourteen members. Genus STENOBHYNCHtrs, 1 F. Cuvier. Incisors &, canine, n, molars, ^ = 32. Incisors conical, the outer upper ones large, resembling canines, one species excepted ; molars distinctly trilobate ; anterior one in each ramus single-rooted ; the others with two roots ; muzzle simple, hairy between and above the nostrils ; whiskers small, wavy, tapering ; claws of fore feet small, of hind feet obsolete, or nearly so. LEPTONTX, 2 Blainville. The Sea Leopard. Synonyms Phoca leptonyx, Blainville. Stenorhynohus leptonyx, F. Cuvier ; Gray, B. M. C. 1866, p. 16. The small-nailed Seal (?), Jardine, Nat. Libry., p. 180, pi. 11. The Leopard Seal (?), Jardine, Nat. Libr., p. 183, pi. 12. There are two stuffed specimens of this species in the Australian Museum ; one, recently obtained, is admirably set up, the various admeasurements being taken from the animal when living, the other but indifferently. These afford another example to the many, that colour, and variations of marking, when considered alone, are but unreliable evidence in distinguishing species, for on these points they differ considerably. Their skulls, however, allowing for those minor 1 , I eat. ORDER 8. DEINOTHEBJA. 1 Teeth of two kinds only, the canines being absent ; bones dense ; occipital region depressed, sloping from the condyles upwards and forwards ; nasal aperture large, placed high up the skull ; nasal bones short and salient ; occipital condyles in the same line of direction with the longitudinal axis of the skull. Family I. DEINOTHEBIOID.E. Genus DEHSTOTHERIUM, 1 Kaup. A cranium nearly perfect, and of about four feet in length, was dis- covered near Eppelsheim, in 1836, by M. Klipstein, in a sandstone deposit of the Meiocene period, a period, I may observe, prolific in yielding peculiarly interesting fossil remains of species either wholly extinct or entirely superseded by new types, or of those still extant, but which seem to have now first sprung into existence, such, for example, are the Deinotherium, the Mastodon, the Zeuglodon, and the Deer tribe of the present day. It is from the structure of this remarkable skull that the following characters, descriptive of the family and probable habits of the animals when living, are arrived at ; but until other portions of the skeleton are exhumed, the external form and the exact position of the Deinothe- rioida? must remain a matter of simple conjecture. Incisors 2H?, canines 2, molars = 22 ? , The extremity of the upper jaw being mutilated, the presence or absence of the superior incisive teeth cannot be defined. The inferior incisors, however, are well preserved and highly characteristic ; they are two in number, in close contiguity with each other, very large, tusk-like in form, with the ivory disposed in concentric striae and embedded in enormous sockets. These, the tusks and sockets, bend abruptly downwards, almost vertically, maintaining, however, a gentle backward curve throughout. In the male the tusks are said to be two feet long, while those of the females are only about half that length. The molars are of comparative moderate size, and have their upper surfaces divided by two transverse ridges, excepting the middle one of each ramus and the first of the lower jaw ; the former possessing three, and the latter only one, of these transverse ridges. awful, and 6-nplov beast. a bow, and oSovy a tooth. 45 Of the skull the texture of the bones is dense ; the occipital portion much flattened, with the hinder part inclined from before backwards ; the nasal aperture large, and placed high up ; the nasal bones short and salient ; and the occipital condyles in the same line of direction with the longitudinal axis of the skull. Such features are in themselves highly expressive of an aquatic existence, but they bear an additional value, not only confirmatory of the mode of life, but as suggestive of the structure of the body, from the marked resemblance presented by these several distinctive qualities to the similar ones seen in the skulls of the strictly aquatic animals, the Manatee and the Dugong ; setting aside from the comparison the huge tusks and the lengthened sockets, to which singularities, although perfectly unique in their entirety, the Dugong affords a faint approach in the downward curve of the deflected symphysis of the mandible. The natural inference, therefore, to be drawn from the cranial linea- ments, by the absence of the canines, and by the form of the molar teeth, exhibited by this relic, would be that the living Deinotherium giganteum partook the herbivorous habits of, and greatly resembled in general form, the members of the existing Sirenoid family. Should this surmise, which I believe originated with de Blainville, be correct, this huge animal would possess a large, full, fleshy, trunk- leis muzzle, adapted for browsing in shallow waters over beds of fluviatile or marine vegetation ; nostrils advantageously placed at the end of the muzzle ; and pinnated limbs, principally or wholly suited for progression in water. The large massive skull, and the great weight of the incisors pro- truding from its extremity, are commonly urged as qualities materially affecting the probable terrestrial existence of the owner ; but I think that such an argument is of but little value to come to any correct conclusion as to the economy of this extinct animal ; for it is obvious that a frame-work fully equal to its requirements, and yet of no unusually stupendous dimensions, would render these apparent obstacles no more " cumbersome " or "inconvenient" to the quadruped on dry land, than the huge and weighty tusks 1 of the extinct Mammoth, which are supported with ease, or the vast expanding horns 2 of the fossil Elk of Ireland, borne with such graceful dignity. Neither can I contemplate with the least satisfaction the form of the gigantic Deinotherium, as originally restored by M. Kaup ; that is, an animal bearing an external resemblance to the tapir-like great Palaeo- therium, but with the lengthened proboscis of an elephant, the limbs of a rhinoceros, and feet terminated by the long hoof-like claws of a pan- golin : truly a hetereogeneous compound, at variance with the signi- ficant characters displayed by the skull, and with the harmonious 1 Each tusk 9 feet long, and weight of both 360 Ibs. * From tip to tip 12 feet. 46 organizations of animal bodies, where, for example, " the feet accord with the characters announced by the teeth ; the teeth are in harmony with those indicated previously by the feet." The immensity of organic fossil deposits, mostly fragmentary, many of wondrous shapes and generally of unallied kinds, promiscuously mingled, presents to the comparative anatomist a vast and too frequently a seductive field for imaginative speculation; and the fertile and heated brain, armed with such materials, is led to fabricate monsters as anomalous in their structural characters as those of heathen creations, or of the Middle Ages, and accepted as truthful by the credulous with an implicit belief. So the pictorial illustration, acknowledged by the author himself to have been founded on error, still remains in works on Natural History, the stereotyped form of the Deinotherium giganteum. Computing from this standard, the length of the animal is estimated at about 18 ieet ; but this magnitude would be greatly exceeded should it hereafter be ascertained that this singular being was truly aquatic in its habits. Dr. Buckland suggests that the large incisive tusks ierved probably for tearing up and raking together the strong-rooted plants which grew in fresh-water rivers and lakes, and which probably constituted the diet of this pachyderm ; for mooring purposes during repose ; for dragging the immense carcass along the bed of the river or up its banks ; and for weapons of offence and defence : in short, precisely similar in their uses to the effective upper canines of the Walrus. Other fragmentary relics of the genus have been discovered in various parts of Europe and Asia, but their specific determination is still involved in considerable obscurity. The following list of species is about the best I can offer, although by no means so perfect as could be desired. 1. DfillfOTHEEIUM OieATfTETTM, Kaup. Syn. Tapir gigantesque, Cuvier. Deinotherium maximum, Kaup. medium, Kaup. 2. DEIKOTHEBIUM CUVIEEI, Kaup. Syn. Deinotherium bavaricum, de Meyer. secundarius, Kaup. Konigii, Kaup. 3. DErffOTHEBitTM MnoiTTJM, de Meyer. 4. DEIKOTHEBIUM PBOAYTTM, Eichwald. Syn. Tapirus proavus, Eichwald. Mastodon podolicus, Eichwald. 5. BEHTOTHEBIUM HTDICTJM, Cantley and Falconer. 47 Family II. TOXODONTHX^. 1 Genus TOXODON/ Owen. ' The characters which distinguish this genus of Professor Owen have been derived by that naturalist from an imperfect skull, a few fragments of the lower jaw, and some teeth, discovered by Mr. Darwin, on the banks of the Sarandis, a small stream near Eio Negro, in South America. These distinctive qualities are principally as follows : Incisors g, canine 2, molars g = 38. The incisors have cutting edges, and are rootless, but supplied with persistent pulps ; of the upper ones, the two central are very small ; the two external, very large and curved ; the lower incisors have, on the contrary, the two middle large, with the others gradually diminishing in size. The molars, separated from the incisors by a wide interval, are rootless, curved (whence the generic name), and with an irregular central pillar of ivory, incased in a layer of enamel, which wearing unequally, give their surfaces an increased power of mastication. The skull is massive and elongated; the occipital region much depressed, and sloping downwards towards the condyles ; the occipital condyles in the same line of direction with the longitudinal axis of the skull ; the nasal aperture large, and placed high up : the nasal bones short and salient ; and the cheek bones of great size and strength. This animal, therefore for there is only one species, the Toxodon platensis, Owen, whose remains are sufficiently known to represent the genus assimimilates in many points to the animals of various other but distinct groups which exist at the present time. To speculate even in a summary manner upon these counterpart characters is instructive, and may possibly intimate, by accepting the preponderating evidences, so adduced, the true nature of the form and habits of a singular animal, known but by a few imperfect relics. It is said to resemble some of the extinct gigantic sloth-like quadrupeds, by the rootless and pulp-bearing molars, and by their massive construction ; but the presence of ten distinct incisors alone forbids the idea that any further affinity existed between it and the leaf-eating edentates, sufficient to justify the presumption that the limbs were furnished at their extremities with long subungulated claws. In a somewhat greater degree it approaches the rodentia, the form and composition of the cutting teeth, continually nourished by a pulpy substance, and the absence of canines, supplying the resemblance ; but the increased number of incisors, in direct variance with the typical character of the rodent, and the structural dissimilarity of the skull, lead to no inference that the feet were unguiculated to a similar extent, or that the general form was that of any one of the " gnawers." 1 r6$ov a bow, and oSofo a tooth. 48 Again, the number and peculiar disposition of the incisors, and the number and heavy make of the molars, point to a still nearer alliance with the Rhinoceros, and possibly with the water-loving anoplo- therioids, whose canines are wanting, or are small and indistinct, and whose toes are protected by hoofs. But the flattened crown of the head ; the position of the breathing aperture, and that of the articulating process of the skull to the neck vertebrae, tend strongly to the conviction that the Toxodon, although from the presence of large frontal sinuses, was probably not so strictly aquatic as the Deinotherium 1 , was nevertheless highly so, and nearly related to it, and to the Sirenioids ; if so, the continual recurrence to the waters of the deep for subsistance would necessitate, as in the Seals, the use of fin-shaped limbs. The skull in question measures about 2 feet 4 inches in length by 1 foot 4 inches in breadth, and about equals that of the Hippopotamus. Owen. Professor Owen regards the relics found at Buenos Ayres as consti- tuting a distinct species, the animal of which would be but little inferior in size to the preceding. TOXODON PABANENSIS, D'Orbigny. Is too much involved in obscurity to be considered as a reliable species. ORDER 9. SIEENIA, 2 MANATEE, DUGOKG, &c., &c. Teeth, when present, of two kinds only, incisors and molars; body elongated, conical, whale-like, sparsely covered with hairs ; neck some- what flexible ; fore limbs converted into flippers, in some slightly unguiculated ; fingers with the normal number of joints (three) as in the clawed mammals ; hind limbs wanting, the body being terminated by an expanded, cartilaginous, horizontal tail ; muzzle obtuse, truncated, thickly bristled ; front of both jaws and part of the palate covered with a hard, corneous plate, externally tuberculated in undulating rows, the substance being composed of short, vertically placed bristles, agglu- tinated together by a horny matter, and bearing a considerable analogy to whalebone ; nostrils separate, valvular, opening at the extremity of the muzzle, and connected to the nasal aperture of the skull by lengthened cartilage, and never employed as blow-holes ; ears without 1 Owen, Zoology of the Yoyage of the "Beagle." 2 Sirenia, from a supposed resemblance of the anterior part of the body, when raised oui of the water, to that of a siren, or mermaid. 49 external conches, and orifices extremely small ; eyes small, provided with nictating membrane ; mammae two, pectoral ; voice reduced to a feeble lowing ; no dorsal fin or protuberance. Of the skeleton, the bones are of dense texture, like ivory, and not loaded with oil ; nasal aperture expanded, placed high up on the cranium ; cheek bones massive ; occipital condyles terminal ; cervical vertebrae separate ; costo-sternal ribs cartilaginous ; sternum composed of one piece ; pelvis small, or rudimentary ; caudal regions elongated, possessing true Y-shaped bones beneath their anterior vertebrae. In habits the existing Sirenoids are gregarious, monogamous, (?) sluggish, usually frequenting shallow waters, and vegetarians in their diet. The extant forms of this order are included within three well-defined genera, of which the species of two of them reveal, in their cervical vertebrae, a marked numerical deviation from the ordinary mammalian type, the three-toed sloth furnishing the only other exception to the general rule. In the Sloth these joints amount to nine, while in the present animals they number only six. Family MANATID^B. 1 &KSTy (a) Genera DENTATA. Teeth various in number ; incisors large, conical, or, very small, early deciduous ; molars at their apices flattened, transversely tuberculated ; posterior ones double-fanged ; lips single ; stomach sacculated ; intesti- nal canal of great length ; surface of skin, smooth, oily ; the two cavities of the heart at their lower ends separated from one another, each portion terminating in a distinct point. The construction of the bruising molar teeth, the thick hide, and the great length and complicated nature of the intestinal canal, adapted for the digestion of vegetable food, ally these animals to the ordinary pachyderms, and consequently many zoologists have associated them with that group. Other writers have been induced to consider the affinity to approach nearer to the seals, from the bluff form of the head, the apical termination of the nostrils, the nictating membrane of the eye ; the lengthened neck, the more perfectly formed hand, and the density of the bones of the skeleton. Again, the peculiar nature of the layer of blubber, which envelops the muscular flesh and is immediately connected by cellular tissue to the external oily, almost naked skin, the entire absence of hinder limbs, the horizontally depressed cartilaginous extremity, the structure of the skeleton in 1 From manatus, provided with hands. E 50 almost every essential element, and the strictly aquatic life, appeal too strongly to the sense to admit of any doubt of their alliance with the Cetacea. But beyond these connecting links, this singular group evinces, by the nature of its dentition, by the elevated position of the nasal aperture on the skull, useless as blow-holes, by the pectoral mammae, and by many other deviating characters, so decided and so intrinsi- cally different to similar parts of either of the orders enumerated, that of necessity a separation is required and a distinct locality assigned it among the mammals. Influenced by this necessity for distinctive position, and guided by the greater alliance, shown in the osseous structure and in the habits of the living animal, to the seal and the whale, than to any terrestrial pachyderm, I have ventured to suggest that the natural allocation for the Order Sirenia should be between those of Pinnipedia and Cetacea. Genus MANATTJS, Eondelet. Incisors i, canines ?, molars JJ zz 38. Incisors very small, early deciduous; molars squarish, irregularly flat on their apices, transversely tuberculated ; of these several of the front ones frequently drop out, so that in the adult animal the number of teeth occasionally amounts to twenty-four only ; front limbs termi- nated by small claws ; tail rounded at its extremity ; cervical vertebras six ; portion of the beak, anterior to the eye-sockets, short, advanced directly forwards, with a very slight gradual downward bend. MANATTJS AMEBICANTJS, Desmarest. The Manatee. Synonyms TrichecTius manatus. Linnaeus. Manatus Americanus, Desmarest. Manatus latirostris, Harlan. Manatee (i.e., Fish-ox), Negroes of Jamaica. Coju-mero (i.e., Sea-cow), G-uiana. In external appearance the Manatee is oblong, the body tapering from the shoulders posteriorly ; the head is short, comparatively small, terminating at the muzzle with a thick fleshy disc, in the upper portion of which the nostrils are placed; the lips are studded compactly with stiff bristles ; the front limbs are well developed, and possess a comparative free motion, one, indeed, intermediate between the Seal and the Whale ; small, flattish nails protect the tips of the fingers ; of the hinder limbs there is no trace ; the tail is cartilaginous, horizon- tally flattened, and rounded at its extremity. The colour of the adult varies from grey-black to blue-black, lighter and brighter underneath ; the length from six to ten feet, even to fifteen feet ; and the weights to correspond to these dimensions range from eight hundred pounds to a ton. 51 This species was at one time very abundant, delighting in the shallow waters of quiet bays and creeks of tropical America, and luxuri- ating r in the sub-aquatic herbage, but more particularly about the mouths of the Amazons and the Orinoco, frequently ascending for many miles, even to their tributaries and the fresh- water lakes, where the floating leaves of water-plants supply their wants ; but as the flesh, the hide, and the oil are much esteemed, and the animals themselves readily captured with the harpoon, the race has been greatly reduced by the assiduous persecution of the natives. The male and female are said to be mutually attached so fervently, as to kill one the other becomes an easy prey, refusing to leave the fatal spot, and to forsake its late partner. MAISTATTTS SENEGALENSIS, Desmarest. The Lamantin. Synonyms Lamantin du Senegal, Daubenton. TrichecJius manatus Africanus, Oken. Manatus Senegalensis, Gray. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 360. The Lamantin inhabits the estuaries of the Senegal and other rivers of the western coast of tropical Africa, and, although considered to be distinct from the Manatee, it corresponds greatly with it in its organism, and apparently in its economy, of which, however, we have no sufficiently precise details. G-enus HALIOOEE/ Illiger. Incisors rf g 9 *, canines g, molars g = 12, or 14. The upper incisors of the male are large, tusk-like, with bevelled off cutting edges, and their roots provided with persistent pulp- cavities, similar to rodents, and they project beyond their sockets only one-eighth of their whole length. In the female these teeth, although well developed, lie concealed, and never penetrate the gum ; the molars during life number from twenty to twenty-four, but the first ones shed before the last has cut the gum, and consequently the whole are never simultaneously in use ; the front limbs exhibit no trace of nails ; the tail fin at its extremity is lunate, forked ; the cervical vertebrae are seven ; and that portion of the beak beyond the eyes, and which receives into its cavities the large upper incisive tasks, is bent down abruptly, almost vertically, over a long deflected mandibular symphysis. The animals, therefore, are easily recognized from those of the genus Manatus, by either one of the many following characters, viz. : the dental formula generally, but more especially the upper incisive- tusks ; the large and long facial bones, singularly bent downwards ; the de- flected symphysis of the lower jaw ; the normal number of the neck vertebrae ; the clawless, pectoral fins, and the forked extremity of the tail. 1 &As, the sea, and K6pTj, a nymph. 52 HALICOKE DUGONG, Illiger. The Dugong. Synonyms Trichechus Dugong, Grmelin, Pucheran, &c. Indian Walrus, Pennant. Dugong, Raffles, Home, Knox, &c. Halicore Dugong, Gray, S. & W., 1866, p. 361. Sea-pig of Moreton Bay, Captain Sidney. Yangan, or lung-un, Natives of North Australia. The Dugong may be considered to be a tropical animal, although it is frequently seen in the waters of Moreton Bay, which would place it slightly without the verge of this prescribed limit. Its natural home, however, is in that extensive area embraced within both tropics, from the eastern coasts of Africa to those of Queensland. This vast range includes the Mauritius, 'Ceylon, the Bay of Bengal, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and the northern coasts of New Holland, from the Barrow Beefs on the west round to Moreton Bay on the east. But in these localities, it is only the shallow waters of unruffled inlets and creeks, the sheltered mouths of rivers, the bays and the straits between proximate islands, that afford the necessary quiet, and the abundant submersed marine aliment essential for a permanent residence. In such resorts the dugongs were formerly exceedingly plentiful, herding together in large numbers, and peacefully feeding like so many sheep on the seaweed, at depths of from six to twenty feet. They were at such times so far from being shy that, when rising at intervals to breathe, or drowsily basking on the surface, they allowed themselves to be handled, 1 so that the smaller and fatter ones were selected for food, and then shot at the end of the musket, or " laid hold of and forced on shore." The natives of Sumatra, according to Sir Stamford Baffles, assert that the dugongs are never found OD land or in fresh water, and their presence in shallows of the sea is at night-time ascertained by the snuffling noise they make at the surface. The Arabs also state of the dugong of the Red Sea 2 that they have feeble voices. 3 Respecting these faculties, I have made many enquiries from well- informed persons, and the replies obtained confirm the truthfulness of the foregoing observations, at least when applied to the Australian animal. Hence, I cannot but think that the voice of the dugong scarcely exceeds the feeble lowing of the whale, and is not deep and hoarse as that of the larger seals, and that the fleshy front limbs of inadequate strength, the entire absence of hinder ones, and great unwieldiness of frame, substantiate the fact that this animal has not the 1 Leguat, Penny Cyclopaedia Whales ; confirmed by Mr. Edward Hill, who for, some time studied the habits of the dugong in the living state in Northern Australia. See also, in page 79, Steller's description of the Khytina of the Arctic Seas. 2 " This is probably the same as the dugong from India and Australia." Gray, S. & W., 1866, p. 365. 3 Biippell. 53 power at will to trayel inland in order to browse upon terrestrial her- bage ; : but whenever found in that position, it has been driven there by tempest, or, as Leguat pithily remarks, " laid hold of and forced on shore." Peron observes, "the sailors were alarmed by a terrible howling, which resembled the roaring of a bull, but much stronger, and seemed to come from the reeds." And Mr. Eraser, in Captain Sterling's Yoyage, 1826, notices that while attending to the boat on the river he " distinctly heard the bellowing of some huge animal, similar to that of an ox, from an extensive marsh further up the river/' : So far there is nothing extraordinary in these narratives, for the Austral- ian eared-seal, Zalophus lobatus, is plentiful along the coast of Western Australia, and its habits and voice accord with the description of these travellers ; but the explanatory remark attached by Dr. Gray, viz., " the roars were doubtless from the dugong," appears to be singularly infelicitous. The dugong is a large, ungainly looking creature, reaching in its adult state to about twenty feet. The colour, according to some, is on the upper portions of the body slaty black ; to others, brownish-black, with a whitish breast and belly. The skin is very thick and smooth, having over it a few remote and scattered hairs. The head is small, the upper lips- are very large and obliquely truncated, on which part it is tuberculated and bristled ; the flippers are short, thick, and fleshy, and incapable of supporting on land the huge bulk of the animal. The flesh is much esteemed as an article of food by the natives of the various countries whose shores the dugong frequents, and the King of Malay claims as a royalty all those that are taken in his dominion. Many Europeans also affirm that it is excellent, comparing it to veal, to beef, or to pork ; the variation in taste attributed to age and con- dition. But I am bound to add, that an opposite estimate of the quality of the flesh, whether roasted, boiled, or stewed, is entertained by some, to whom it appeared like coarse, oily bacon, and with a toughness and elasticity of fibre which kept the teeth engaged in a kind of perpetual motion. The oil, however, is acknowledged by common consent to be of the best quality, peculiarly clear, limpid, and free from disagreeable smell. These animals were formerly captured by the use of the spear, but of late years harpoons, nets, and boats with organized crews, have been 1 " This induces them" (herbivorous whales) " to leave the water frequently to come on and crawl and pasture on the shore." Cuvier's Animal Kingdom. " They" (dugongs) " are also found, and called ' the seal,' on the shore and in the salt-water inlet of the Concan, where they feed on the vegetable matter found on the rocks, and bask and sleep in the morning; sun." Gray, S. & "W., 1866, p. 363. " Browsing on fuci, water-plants, or the grass of the shore." Owen, Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates, 1866, vol. ii, p. 281. " Le Cetace est mammifere qui vit dans 1'eau, non comme le Phoque ou le Sirenien, qui prend librement ses ebats sur le rivage de la mer." Van Beneden & Gervais, Ost. des Cetaces, p. 1, now publishing. 2 Gray, S. & W., 1866, p. 364. 54 employed in this country to meet the demand for the oil, which being carefully prepared, is said to possess all those remedial properties for which the cod-liver oil has become so noted. Dr. Hobbs, of Brisbane, has the merit of first introducing this valuable commodity to notice, and it is much to be regretted that his enterprise has been cramped by the difficulty of procuring the Dugong in sufficient numbers, now that it has the experience of the ways of man. Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his "Ceylon," states that the dugong there, while nursing, carries her offspring under one of her nippers, where the teat is situated, in such a position that the head of the young creature and her own are maintained above the water. The Malays make frequent allusion to this animal as an example of maternal affection : when they succeed in taking a young one, they feel themselves certain of the mother, for she follows it, and allows herself to be speared and taken almost without resistance. HALICOEE TABEENACULi, 1 Eiippell. Abyssinian Dungog. " Observed by Dr. Eiippell swimming among the coral banks on the coast of Abyssinia." " The Arabs stated that they live in pairs, 2 or small families ; that they have feeble voices ; feed on algae ; and that in February and March bloody battles take place between the males, which attain to eighteen feet." Penny Cyclopedia. G-enus HALiTHEEiuM, 3 Kaup. The more perfect remains which have been exhumed of this genus exhibit the osseous characters of the frame, similar to, and a cranium of very nearly the same form as the Dugong. The upper incisors assume the form of tusks, while the lower ones are very small ; the molars, however, approach nearer in structure to those of the Manatee, but their margins are deeply festooned ; of these, the upper have three tuberculated ridges, the lower two ; all of the superior teeth are pro- vided with three roots, and the inferior with two, the last of which is strongly fanged. The rib bones are solid, not porous or spongy. These remains have been found principally in France, imbedded in the deposits of the upper Eocene groups, and those of the Meiocene period ; and one species was discovered at Piedmont, in the Pleiocene beds. From their marked analogy with the osseous characters of the Sirenoids, 1 Of the tabernacle. So called by Dr. Eiippell from the notion that the Jews employed the skin in veiling the tabernacle. 2 See habits of the Khytina Stelleri, p. 56. 3 &Ay, the sea, and dypiov, animal. 55 it is presumed that all tlie species of the genus Halitherium passed their existence in the shallows of the sea, or about the estuaries of rivers, and partook of the manners of the dugongs of the present day. This genus was established by M. Kaup, to bring together many fragments incorrectly ascribed by Cuvier and others to different groups. M. Pictet enumerates the following species : HALITHEEITJM DTTBIIJM, Cuvier. Hippopotamus dubius, Cuvier. HALITHERIUM GUETTAEDI, de Blainville. Vacha marina, Guettard. Manatus Guettardi, de Blainville. HALITHEEITIM FOSSILE, Cuvier. Pkocafossilis, Cuvier. Trichechus fossilis, Cuvier. Trichechus molassicus, Jaeger. Manatus Cuvieri, Laurillard. Manatus Cordieri, de Christol. HALITHEEIUM BEAUMONTI, de Christol. HALITHEEITJM STFDEEI, de Meyer. Metaxitherium Studeri, de Meyer. HALITHEEITJM SEEEESSII, Gervais. Gheirotnerium, of Bruno. Manatee, Dugong, Hippopotamus of various French authors. Q-enus TEACHYTHEEiUM, 1 Gervais. M. Grervais founded this genus solely upon one tooth, which was obtained from the marine calcareous deposit of the Meiocene period at the Eeole in France ; consequently no information can be supplied beyond that it was the last molar of the lower jaw, and that it had on the crown three transverse tubercular ridges, and not two as in the corresponding tooth of the preceding genus, but otherwise resembling it. Trachytherium Raulinii, Grervais, is necessarily the only species known. 5 Genus EDENTATTTM. Genus EnTTiNA, 2 Illiger. "Without teeth of any kind, the corneous lamellae, before described, but on a larger scale, supplying their place ; lips double, the outer s, rough, and 6-nptov, animal. 2 pvris, wrinkled. 56 upper one bristly ; flippers small, clawless ; tail-fin forked ; stomach simple ; surface of skin rough, folded, presenting a very rugged appear- ance (hence the generic name) ; cervical vertebrae six. EHTTINA STELLEBI, Illiger. Steller's Manatee. Synonyms Manate, sen Vacca Marina, Steller. Trichechus manatus, Miiller. TricJiechus lorealis, Gmelin, Oken. Rytina gigas, Gray, S. and "W. 1866, p. 365. Head small, oblong, obtuse ; body dark-coloured, almost hairless, protected by a rugged covering, like the bark of an old oak, of which the scarf-skin is composed of fibres or tubes of a similar substance to the hoofs of cattle, closely packed, and perpendicular to and implanted into the true skin ; the hide is an inch thick, and so tough as scarcely to be cut with an axe ; but when cut appears like ebony in the inside ; the tail is black, ending in a stiff, crescent-shaped fin, fringed with long fibrous matter like whalebone. These curious animals, but a little more than a century ago, frequented in large herds the shoal waters of the bays and estuaries of the rivers of Behring's Straits, and of Kamtschatka, but are now probably wholly extinct by the ruthless hand of the seamen who were in the habit of wintering in these seas. During Behring's second expedition, in 1741, Steller, who accom- panied him, was compelled by shipwreck to remain on Behring's Island for ten months, and he estimated the then existing numbers to be so large as sufficient to supply food for the whole population of Kamt- schatka. Sauer, the companion of the same great navigator in his third voyage, from 1789 to 1793, states that not a single specimen of the kind could be seen, the last known individual having been killed about twenty years previous to their visit. Steller, however, has fortunately left behind him a comprehensive and reliable account of the habits and appearance of this singular being, and zoologists are thus entirely indebted to him for all the records they possess of a race, either effectually driven away from its natural haunts to more secluded homes, or, in accordance with the general belief, now numbered among the things of the past. He relates, in addition to the characteristics given before, that they were so tame as to suffer themselves to be handled ; if roughly treated, they removed to the sea, but soon forgot their injuries and returned. Sometimes they appeared in families near one another, each of which consisted of a male and female, one half grown, and a cub ; these families often unite and form vast droves. Their conjugal affection is most striking ; a male, after using all his endeavours to relieve his mate, which had been struck, followed her to the water's edge, whence no blows could force him to depart. As long 57 as she continued in the water, he attended ; and even three days after her death, he was observed to remain in expectation of her return. They are most voracious creatures, and feed with their head under water, quite inattentive to the boats, or anything that passes around them ; moving and swimming gently after one another with a great portion of their back out of the water. Every now and then they elevate the nose to take breath, and make a noise like the snorting of a horse. They were taken at Behring's Island by a great hook fastened to a long rope, which was taken into a boat, and rowed among the herd. "When the animal was struck, the loose end of the rope was conveyed to land, where it w r as seized by about thirty people, who with great diffi- culty drew it on shore. In summer they are very fat ; in winter quite lean. Steller also ob- serves that this animal grows to the length of twenty-eight feet, and that the weight of a very large one was 8,000 pounds. ORDER 10. ZEUGLODONTIA. 1 Teeth of two kinds (?), incisors conical, sharp-pointed, single-rooted, placed somewhat remote from each other; molars compressed, apex obtuse, double-rooted, set rather closely together into deep sockets ; face of the skull much elongated, slender ; nasal orifices normal, that is, opening at the extremity of the muzzle, as in terrestrial mammals ; body elongate, whale-like ; pectoral limbs small, fin-shaped ; hinder probably deficient. Erom the foregoing general definition of the structure of the animals of this extinct group, it is interesting to observe that while retaining their own individuality, how singularly these organic remains connect by marked coincident features the preceding to the following order. In instituting a comparison between them, we remark that the normal position of the breathing apertures, and the structural form of the teeth, are characters peculiarly their own ; the teeth, most probably of two kinds only, with the molars, flattened at their apices, and double- rooted, attach them to the Sirenoids ; the greatly elongated beak, and pointed incisors, suggest their alliance with the Whales ; while the pisci-formed body and pinnated pectoral limbs are properties in common to them all. Genus ZEUGLODON, 1 Owen. Synonyms Basilosaurus, Harlan. Squalodon, G-rateloup. itydrarchus, Koch. Dorydon, Gribbes. t a yoke, and 5ous, a tooth like two teeth tied or yoked together. 58 Incisors 3:3, canines ^}? molars 5-5 ~ 36. Incisors conical, pointed, curved inwardly, Single-rooted; the nature of the teeth immediately adjoining these is doubtfully expressed in the dental formula, because many writers regard them as canines, while others only as premolars in the upper, and incisors in the lower jaw, the former being furnished with two roots and the latter with one ; the posterior molars are greatly constricted on both sides along the whole length of the middle of each tooth between the roots, and appear as if two teeth were united together by a slender bond ; indeed the form when viewed from above resembles rudely a seaman's watch-glass , and each is provided with two large fangs, whose length within the sockets occasionally doubles the exposed portion of the tooth. ZEUGKLODON MACBOSPONDYLTis, 1 Owen. Synonyms Basilosaurus? Harlan. Squalodon Grateloupi, Grervais. Delphinoides Gratelou/pi, Pedroni. Each enlarged part of the molar teeth has a central pulp cavity and concentric striae of growth ; the cranium is very much elongated and contracted from behind the frontals ; occipital region rises by an abrupt slope, as in cetaceans ; inferior jaw, in shape resembles those of the toothed- whales ; dorsal vertebras are elongated and cylindrical ; cervical vertebras short. The fossil remains of this singular being was first discovered by Dr. Harlan, in 1835, at Arkansas, Mississipi, and he described them in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, under the name of Basilosaurus, as belonging to a gigantic reptile. Tour years subse- quently these bones were forwarded to Professor Owen, who, by a microscopic examination of the teeth, pronounced the animal to be an aquatic mammalian, a carnivorous whale, but likewise closely related to the Manatee. Other relics having been found at Alabama in 1845, Dr. Griinther and many other zoologists supported Dr. Harlan's views as to the reptilian character of the remains, while Burmeister and Miiller retained the mammalian theory. Since this latter date, bones in con- siderable quantities, and more perfect in distinctive qualities, have been exhumed, and these appear to confirm in a satisfactory manner the research and sagacity of Professor Owen in originally arriving at a correct conclusion from the inspection of materials apparently so slight and defective. 1 /j.aKp6s, long, and large, compressed, double or treble rooted ; muzzle not well known, elongated. Discovered in the tertiary deposits in France and Austria. 1 KTJTOS, whale whale-like. 2 u'Spa, sea-serpent, and &px os > original, primitive. 3 rpaxts rough, and o-TrovSuAos, dorsal vertebrae. 4 S6pv, a spear, and 65ovs, tooth. 60 ORDER 11. CETACEA 1 . The order Cetacea comprehends all those animals so familiarly known under the trivial names of "Whale, Black-fish, Grampus, Dol- phin, and Porpoise, and which from their fish-like form and aquatic mode of life are, even at the present day, considered by a majority of persons as true fish. Their genuine position among the first-class of vertebrated animals is clearly established by the one incontrovertible fact, that the female, bearing mammae, suckles her young. Beyond this important condition, there are, however, so many other interesting points of departure between the whale and fish tribes, so thoughtlessly associated together, that I cannot refrain from offering a few pertinent comparisons for the consideration of the student. The young of the Cetacese are born alive, and such also is the case with those of many kinds of fish ; but the young of the whale tribe, during the entire period of their foetal condition, draw their nourish- ment direct from the parent by the agency of the connecting placenta, and after birth are wholly dependent upon the milk drained from her breasts ; not so with the offspring of ovo-viviparous fish, the blennies, eilures, sharks, &c., whose embryo is attached by a pedicle to a yolk, and both enclosed within an egg, externally protected by a membran- ous envelope. This egg enlarges within the body of the female, until, by the gradual and entire absorption of the alimental yolk, the foetus is fully developed, and the young having thus been completely hatched, breaks the egg and the membrane which retained it, and passively geeks an independent living, conforming precisely in all the elements of foetal vitality and after-growth to the young of the eggs scattered in the water by oviparous fish. Again, the blood of all Cetaceans is warm, and consequently they are compelled to breathe the atmospheric air by means of true lungs, placed within the cavity of the chest, and have to rise periodically to the surface of the water in order to respire ; should any accident frus- trate this indispensable requirement, they would literally be drowned. They are also provided with necks, which contain the typical number (seven) of vertebrae, common, with three exceptions only 2 , to the whole mammalian group, although these necks are extremely short and thick ; their eyes are protected by lids, and many species even possess the organ for secreting tears : their ears exhibit external openings ; their nostrils are placed on the crown of the head ; their caudal fin invari- ably assumes the horizontal position ; and their body is covered with a smooth, almost hairless, leathery hide. a whale. 2 The common Sloth (Bradypus tridactylus) : the Manatee (Manatus Australis), and the Steller's Manatee (Rhytina Stelleri.) 61 On the contrary, the fish have the blood, although red, quite cold ; their respiratory organs, termed gills, perform their functions through the medium of water, occasioning no necessity ever to quit that element to expel or inhale the breath ; the neck is totally absent, the head being immediately united to the trunk ; the ears exhibit no external openings, as they are inclosed on every side by the bones of the head ; the nostrils are at the end of the muzzle ; the body is usually covered with scales ; the eye is lidless, and devoid of any lachrymal organ ; and the tail is always vertically disposed. Thus the "Whales, in all the essential elements of organization, with the exception of external form, bear no more characteristic affinities to fish than the winged bats do to their co-tenants of the air, the birds. The "Whales have their bodies long and conical, terminating in a powerful, cartilaginous tail, the enormous muscles of which constitute their principle organ of locomotion ; their mammae are two, one on each side of the groin ; the skin which covers the body is smooth and unprotected by hair, but it is immediately succeeded by a thick layer of blubber, which serves to keep up the proper temperature of the body requisite for the circulation of the blood ; the nostrils, or spiracles, are enlarged into blowers, capable of throwing up jets of water, or spray, accompanied by a loudish noise; the eyes are small, and situated towards the back part of the head ; the external orifice of the ear is minute, and can be closed at will ; the front limbs, although displaying within all the ordinary bones appertaining to the hand, arm, and shoulder, are externally fin-shaped, and destitute of claws or nails, being thus rendered wholly unfit for grasping ; the bones are, in genera], very spongy, and strongly impregnated with fat, and in some respects resemble those of birds ; and the voice in most of the species is reduced to a simple lowing. The various kind's produce one young, occasionally two, at a birth, and the cubs follow their dams as calves do cows. The cetaceans are carnivorous in the general sense, devouring animals from the small shrimp to a large seal. They are all, with a few exceptions, essentially marine, ranging the wide expanse of the ocean, and capable of remaining submerged for a considerable time. There exists a remarkable peculiarity in the animals of this order, and which is exhibited even in the foetal condition ; namely, that the two halves of the head rarely correspond with each other in symmetry ; and it is likewise asserted that in some instances the bones of one side weigh heavier than those of the other. The greatest symmetry exists in the whalebone whales, and exactly the opposite prevails in the Zyphiidae. Another remarkable departure from the mammalian type is found in the increase of the joints of certain fingers of the hand. "With reference to the toothed whales, Mr. Owen remarks that " the teeth exhibit no conformity of shape in the whole series, nor are they subject to succession or displacement by a second or permanent set," presenting " in the dental system but little fixity of character, and its 62 variations extend in some cases to anomalies," yet it appears to me that, in their number and disposition, they afford to a certain extent sufficiently trustworthy indications of affinity for the classification of the species into several natural groups or families, and which, aided by other characters, would come, without being too elaborate, very con- yeniently within the compass of this primary treatise. Somewhat contrary to modern practice, I head the following tabular classification of the Order Cetacea with the Family Platanistidae, prin- cipally in obedience to the dental formula, and partly because of the many connecting forms of organic structure, which ally the members of this family with those of the two preceding orders Zeuglodontia and Sirenia, on the one hand, and with the true Delphinidae, their natural successors in the Cetacean line of affinity, on the other. The known individuals of this fresh-water group approach the extinct carnivorous whales by their elongated head, of which the man- dible exhibits a lengthened symphysis ; by their teeth firmly set in both jaws, the anterior ones retaining their prehensile character, while the posterior have their summits worn down broadly to their bases, the latter occasionally exhibiting two short fangs, a dental feature very exceptional among other existing whales. They resemble the Manatee and the Dugong in possessing a com- paratively long neck, of which the vertebrae are all free ; in bearing the cartilaginous costo-sternal ribs ; in the peculiar mode of attachment of the ribs to the dorsal vertebrae ; and in the sternum being composed of one piece. The Inia, moreover, presents further corroborative affinities to the Sirenia worthy of notice, namely, in the restricted number of the lumbar vertebrae and the singular form of the cervical vertebrae and of the sternum, these important parts being in their structure very unlike to the corresponding ones of any other cetacean, yet strongly recalling to mind those borne by the Dugong and Manatee respectively. "With the Delphinidae the alliance is equally well marked the small head, proportionate to the bulk of the body ; the narrow, prolonged beak, parallelled in a less exaggerated form by some individuals of the genus Steno ; the two jaws of nearly the same length and breadth, and both armed with numerous trenchant teeth, the form of which in the Inia greatly strengthens the affinity with several species of the true dolphins, by having the surface of their crowns distinguished by a marked rugosity, a singularity not only indicated clearly in the teeth of some species of the genus Steno, but seen in a lesser degree in those of the young of Orca and Pseudorca. And in their manner of living and seizing their prey, no one can dispute the near relationship which exists between the Marine and ITluviatile Dolphins. It is to be understood that the number, position, and nature of the teeth are taken from the adult animal only. ORDER CETACEA. TEETH. SUBORDER (a. {Permanent, numerous, \ occupying nearly the 1 whole length of both j jaws. ; I Deciduous, numerous, \ B { in front part only of J I both jaws. ) ("Long produced spiral^ C < tusks in upper jaw of > C male only. ) jv ("Deciduous, in lower") 28^5' r > 30^0 - L ^' r > 1ZU ' Rather stout, set well apart, subcylindrical, anterior ones longest, compressed, and slightly curved ; posterior ones short, with occasionally two short fangs. The long and slender beak, slightly more than three- quarters of the entire length of the skull, is compressed at the sides, expanded and slightly curved upwards at the extremity, where it is larger than in the middle. The black, shining eyes are exceedingly minute, scarcely one-eighth of an inch in diameter, obviously better adapted for turbid than clear waters. In general, their movements appear to be sluggish, but when in pursuit of fish they become active and fleet. There are but two species known, viz. : PLATANTSTA GANGETICA, Eoxburg. Dolphin of the Granges. The Susu. Synonyms Delpliinorhyehus Gangeticus, Lesson. Platanista Gangeteca, Gray, B.M.C., 1866; Supp. 1871. Soosoo of the Granges. Jardine, Nat. Libr., vol. 7. The Susu of the Ganges attains to about seven feet in length, and its general colour is of a shining pearly grey. These animals frequent in , Pliny's name for a dolphin, considered by Cimer to be probably tbia very speces. 65 great numbers the slow-moving labyrinths of the rivers and creeks which intersect the delta of the Granges, but they are also known to have ascended that river to more than a thousand miles above Calcutta. They, however, confine their limits of range to within the bounds of rivers, never venturing out into the open ocean. PLATANISTA INDI, Blyth. The Susu of the Indus. Synonyms Platanista Q-angetica (minor), Owen. Cat. Coll. Surg. Platanista Indi, Blyth. Journ. Asiat. Soc., Bengal: Gray, B.M.C., 1866 ; Suppl., 1871, p. 62. As the name implies, this dolphin inhabits the river Indus and its tributaries, and in colour, size, and habits, bears a great resemblance to the species first described ; it differs, however, in possessing a larger and more robust skull, and in the teeth, although equal in number, being shorter, and more ground down by attrition. Genus INIA 1 , Gray. Teeth, |H to | == 104 to 132. Conical, permanent, firmly set, with compressed roots ; anterior ones simple, sharp, slightly incurved; posterior with a broad, rounded tubercle towards the base of the crown ; beak of the skull three- quarters of the entire length of the skull ; pectoral fin large, ovate, obtusely pointed. The lower jaw, being terminated by a long cylindrical muzzle, affords, like the Platanista, an exact miniature resemblance to that of the Cachalot. INIA GEOFFBOYENSIS, de Blainville. The Inia. Synonyms DelpUnus Geoffroyii, Desm. ; Mamm. Delphinorhynchus frontatus. F. Cuvier. Inia JBoliviensis, D'Orbigny. Voy. Amer. Merid. Inia Geoffroyii, Gray, B.M.C., 1866. Suppl., 1871, p. 64. Inia Geoffroyensis, Flower ; Tran. Z. Soc., vol. 6, part 3. This animal is at the present the only one of the genus, but from the great variation in the number of the teeth, 2 presented by several skulls in European museums, the probability arises that more than one kind will hereafter be distinctly determined. The female Inia GeofFroyensis, when adult, measures about 7 feet ; the male, it is said, arrives to a much larger size ; the colour of both is of a pale blue on the upper portions of the body, and reddish under- neath. This dolphin is a native of South America, and, in groups of three or four, locates not only the remote tributaries of the Amazon, but, at vast distances from the sea, the elevated lakes of Peru, and thus may be considered as a true fresh-water cetacean. 1 Inia, so named by the native Indians of Bolivia. 2 On this point see Gray, Suppl., p. 64, and Flower T. Z. S., vol. 6, p. 87. 1 66 Family II. PONTOPOEIAD.E. 1 "With dorsal fin ; head small, convex, longly-beaked ; jaws nearly of the game length and breadth, armed throughout with teeth ; skull, long- beaked; beak slender, compressed, about three-fourths of the entire length of skull ; mandibular symphysis very long, upwards of half of the entire length of ramus, greatly resembling those of Platanista and Inia; costo-sternal ribs ossified; cervical vertebrae free; teeth numerous, permanent, conical. Genus PoiSTOPOBiA, 1 Gray. Beak high, compressed, slender smooth ; pectoral fin short, truncated, five-fingered ; dorsal fin short, triangular ; mandible grooved on each side ; symphysis frequently anchylosed by age ; teeth with a swollen ring round the base. PONTOPORIA BLArNTiLLii, Treminville. The Pontoporia. Synonyms Delphinus Blainvillii, Tremin. StenodelpJiis Blainvillii, Gervais. Pontoporia Blainvillii, Gray, S. and W. p. 231 ; Suppl. p. 96; Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. 6, p. 87. Teeth g| to g^ = 212 to 222, small, in many respects resembling those of the Inia. Inhab. coasts of Buenos Ayres South Atlantic. For many years a doubt has existed whether this species was fluvia- tile or marine, and whether it possessed a dorsal fin or was deprived of that appendage ; for only a few remains, of uncertain origin, were known to the scientific world. Dr. Burmeister of Buenos Ayres has recently solved the problem, by the issue of a valuable monograph, whereby not only all doubts of its structure and habits are removed, but its position in the cetacean group is so far defined that it cannot be retained among the Platanistidae, where some eminent writers had placed it, neither can it be classed with the Delphinidse propriae, as determined by other zoologists : the only alternative therefore appears to be to form an express family for its reception, and possibly for other allied kinds, recent or fossil, which some day may be brought to light. It apparently constitutes an excellent connecting link between the fresh-water and marine dolphins, approaching the former by the pro- longed beak, the greatly lengthened symphysis, and the free condition of the cervical vertebrae ; and to the latter, by the dorsal fin and ossified cartilages of the ribs. I, therefore, assign to it the present position. 1 ir6vTos, the sea, and ir6pis, a calf. 67 Family III. CHAMPSODELPHIim 1 Beak of the skull much elongated ; symphysis of lower jaw two- thirds the length of the entire ramus ; teeth strong, permanent, numerously developed in both jaws. Genus CHAMPSODELPHIS, Grervais. Teeth with roots thicker than the crowns. CHAMPSODELPHIS 1 MACEOGKENIUS, 2 DelpJiinus macrogenius, Cuvier. CJiampsodelpliis macrogenius, Grervais, Pictet. Is distinguished by the great length of the symphysis of- the lower jaw, a peculiarity of structure only equalled by that of the sperm whale of our days ; but the teeth being numerous and differently formed, pro- hibit the association of these two cetals. The dolphins, included in the family Platanistidse, possess the mandibular symphysis rather more than half the length of the ramus, but Cuvier has shown that the con- struction of the bones more nearly allies this species to the Delphinus (Steno of Gray) rostratus, than to the Susu of the Granges. I may again be permitted to call attention to the fact that no existing species of the genus Steno, the most remarkable one among the Delphinidae for exhibiting in excess this peculiarity, possesses a man- dibular symphysis which ever attains to more than one-third the entire length of the ramus. CHAMPSODELPHIS 1 BoED^], Grervais. Is very similar to the foregoing, but found in a different locality. The remains of these two species were discovered in France, em- bedded in the strata of the meiocene period ; an age which also pro- duced, among other mammals, those of the Deinotherium, the Zeuglodon (a carnivorous whale), and of the Halitherium (a Sirenian animal). Genus AEKXNTCJS, H. de Meyer. Teeth slightly bent ; apices pointed ; roots nearly circular. AEIONIUS SEETATUS, H. de Meyer. Synonym DelpJiinus molassicus, Jaeger, Owen. Found at Wurtemburg, in the molasse, or soft tertiary sandstone of the meiocene age. t ^ a kind of crocodile, and SeA^iy, dolphin in allusion to the elongated form of the beak and formidable array of teeth. 2 fjuuep6s, long, and ytvvs, the chin. 68 Family IV. DELPHINIDJE. 1 With dorsal fin ; head small, convex, moderately beaked ; symphysis of mandible moderate in length, never exceeding one-third of the entire length of the ranrns ; cervical vertebrae more or less anchylosed ; 2 costo-sternal ribs ossified. By a reference to the tabulated synopsis of the Cetaceae, it will be seen that I have limited the members of this Family to only a few of the genera to be met with in Dr. Gray's last arrangement of 1871. Even as now restricted it is very fertile in species, and some or other of the individuals comprised within it may be met in almost every imaginable part of the ocean, north and south of the equator, enduring the extremes of heat and cold, disporting along the coasts, or within the shallower waters of the bays, ascending the innumerable creeks and inlets, or midway traversing the broad expanse of the sea, fleet and voracious, ever in a state of activity " Or dire below, or on the surface leap And spout the waves, and wanton in the deep." The Delphinidae, of which the smaller members bear to each other a most perplexing family likeness, are nevertheless made up of two tolerably well-defined groups, typically represented by the common dolphin and the common porpoise. The following general features will sufficiently distinguish the two. In the group of which the common dolphin is the representative, the head is more or less but decidedly beaked, the beak being parted from the forehead by a separating furrow ; the lower jaw is usually of greater length than the tipper one, and its symphysis moderately long. In the other section, typified by the porpoise, the head tapers uniformly towards the lips, scarcely, if at all, beaked, and without a divisional groove ; the jaws are, in general, more of an equal length, and the symphysis of the lower one comparatively short. With these few preliminary remarks, I proceed, in the concise terms to which I am limited, to the description of the genera and species of the Family, following in general the order of arrangement proposed by Dr. Gray ; but deviating from it on such occasions, where I think the purpose I have in view is forwarded by a method of greater simplicity. Genus STENO 3 , Gray. Head and forehead convex, moderately beaked ; beak of the skull compressed, higher than broad, usually about -& of the entire length of the skull ; symphysis of lower jaw elongate, from to i length of the ramus ; fore fins moderately long, triangular, obtusely pointed at the 1 From delphimis, a dolphin. 3 Tursio truncatus excepted ? 3 trreVoy, narrow. 69 end. First finger short, cartilaginous : the second with six, the third with five, the fourth with two, and the fifth with one bony joint. The wrist bones all separated by broad cartilages. Shoulder-blade oblique, truncated at the posterior angle. Prom Flower. Teeth conical, large to small. " This genus," says Dr. Gray, " is at once known from Lageno- rhychus and Delphinus by the length, compression, and tapering form of the beak of the skull." STENO FKONTATTJS, 1 Cuvier. The Fronted Dolphin. Synonyms Delphinus frontatus, Cuvier, Owen. Steno frontatus, Gray, B. M. C. and Suppl. Teeth ^ large, about two in an inch, often rather rugose. Dr. Dickie describes the animal as having the skin rough, the back greyish black, and the belly dirty white, and the female being 9 feet long. Inhab. Indian Ocean. STENO coMPBESSTis, 2 Gray. The Narrow-beaked Dolphin. Teeth large, about two in an inch. " Beak of the skull compressed, attenuated in front." ' Inhab. South Seas. STENO BOSTRATrs, 3 Cuvier. The Beaked Dolphin. Synonyms Delphinus rostratus, Cuvier, Beg. Aniin., p. 289. DelpJiinus planiceps, Breda, 1829. DelphinorJiyncus Bredanensis, Jardine, N. L., vol. vii., p. 252. Steno-rostratus, Gray, Suppl. B. M. C., 1871, p. 65. Teeth aiia or ^5, rather large, about two in an inch. Animal black above, rosy -white beneath, having the lower part of the sides black-spotted. Inhab. North Sea. STENO Si^ENSis, 4 Osbeck. The Chinese "White Dolphin. Synonyms DelpJiinus sinensis, Osbeck, Desmarest, Flower, Tran. Zool. Sec., vol. vii. p. 151. Steno sinensis (Chinensis), Gray, Suppl. B. M. C., 1871, p. 65. Teeth |^, many much worn down, about three in an inch. The animal is milkish white, with pinkish fins and black eyes, and in length 7 feet 6 inches. Inhab. China harbour of Amoy, Canton, and Foochow Eivers. 1 Fronted. 2 Compressed. 3 Beaked. * Sina, China, adj. sinensit. 70 STENO GADAMTJ, Owen. The Gadamu Dolphin. Synonyms Delpliinus Gadamu, Owen, Trans. Zpol. Soc., vol. vi., p. 17. Clymenia Gadamu, Gray, Suppl. B. M. C., 1871, p. 70. Teeth ^ to i, about three in an inch. Colour of the animal, upper part plumbeous ashy-grey ; underneath pinkish ashy-grey. In length about 7 feet. Inhab. Vizagapatam. STENO MAcrLiYENTEB, 1 Owen. The Spot-bellied Dolphin. Synonym Delphinus maculiventer, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. vi., p. 21. Teeth 5, about three in an inch. Body above, a deep, shining, lead-coloured black ; paler beneath, blotched irregularly over with ashy-grey. Length about 7 feet ; called by the native fishermen " Suvva." Inhab. Vizagapatam. STENO LENTiGiNOsrs, 2 Owen. The Freckled Dolphin. Synonyms DelpUnus lentiginosus, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi., p. 20. Steno lentiginosus, Gray, B. M. C., 1866, p. 394 ; Suppl. 1871, p. 66. Teeth 3, about four in an inch. Upper surface of the animal of a slate-colour, freckled over with lead-coloured streaks or spots ; underneath similar but lighter. Length nearly 8 feet ; known by the native fishermen by the name of " Bolla Gidimi." Inhab. "Waltair, Vizagapatam. STENO MALAYANTJS, Lesson. The Malay Dolphin. Synonyms Delphinus M'alayanus, Lesson. Voy. Coq. Delphinus plumbeus, Cuvier, Heg. Anim. Jardine "Nat. Libr." Steno Malayanus, Gray. B.M.C. 1866, p. 232. Teeth g~, about four in an inch. Colour of the animal, greyish-lead throughout; length, about eight feet. Inhab. Malabar Coast. STENO CAPENSIS, Gray. The Cape Steno. Teeth ^[ } small, about five in an inch. Mandible slender, attenuated ; symphvsis i- of ramus. (See B.M.C. p. 394.) Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. 1 Macula, a spot, and venter, the belly. 'Freckled. 71 STENO ATTENUATUS, Gray. The slender-beaked Dolphin. Teeth g^, small, about five in an inch. (See B.M.C. p. 235, and Suppl. 1871, p. 66.) STENO BKEViMANUS 1 , Pucheran. The Singapore Dolphin. Synonyms DelpJiinus brevimanus, Pucheran. Yoy. Dumont d'Urville. Steno brevimanus, Gray. B.M.C., 1866, p. 236. Teeth |i|, small, about five in an inch. Inhab. Banda, Singapore. STENO EOSEiYENTBis 2 Pucheran. The Molucca Dolphin. Synonyms DelpJiinus roseiventris, Pucheran. Voy. Dumont d'Urville. Steno roseiventris, Gray. B.M.C., 1866, p. 233. Teeth ^~, small, about five in an inch. <; Greyish-black above, under half rosy -white ; orbit, streak from eye to the pectoral, and pectoral fin, dusky. Beak elongate, slender. Beak of skull very long, half as long again as the brain cavity." Gray. Inhab. Molucca. STENO FLTiviATiLis 3 , Gervais. The Dolphin of the Upper Amazons. Synonyms DelpJiinus Jluviatilis, G-ervais and Delille. Steno tucuxi, Gray. Suppl. B.M.C., 1871, p. 66. Steno ? Jluviatilis, Steno ? pallidus, Gray. Suppl. B.M.C., 1871, p. 66. Teeth g| to g|, small, about five in an inch. " S. fluviatilis, above blackish, a broad band from the eye to the pectoral, and the pectoral fin black. Lower jaw and beneath rosy- white, the white bent up so as to form a broad white lobe behind the orbit over the pectoral." " S. tucuxi, dark blackish or fuscous ; it does not roll over like the Bouko (Inia Geofiroyensis) , but comes to the surface to breathe : called by the natives Tucuxi" " S. pallidus, pale yellowish white above, beneath white." Both S. fluviatilis and S. pallidus " may be the same as S. tucuxi." Inhab. " the upper parts of the Amazons Biver, 1,500 miles from the sea." See Gray. B.M.C. 1866, p. 236, 237. Suppl. 1871, p. 66. STENO GUIANENSIS, Van Beneden. The G-uiana Dolphin. Synonyms DelpJiinus Guianensis, Van Beneden. Tursio ? Guianensis, Gray. B.M.C. 1866, p. 257. Sotalia Guianensis, Gray. Suppl. 1871, p. 67. Teeth g^? to -|gj, slender, conical, about five in an inch. Inhab. British Guiana. 1 Brevis, short, and manus, the hand. 2 Rosens, colour of a rose, rosy, and venter, the belly. 3 Flvviatilis, of or pertaining to a river. 72 Genus Head and forehead convex, longly-beaked ; pectoral fin elongate, falcate, obtusely pointed ; first, fourth, and fifth fingers short ; second much the longest, with eight or nine joints ; third about a fourth shorter than the second ; beak of the skull elongate, commonly f of the entire length of the skull, depressed, broader than high ; symphysis of man- dible from moderate to short, usually between and 1 length of the ranius ; teeth conical, small, slender, set closely together. (a) Palate behind deep channelled on each side. * Teeth about five in an inch. DELPHINTJS LONGIEOSTEIS, Dussumier. The Malabar Dolphin. DelpUnus longirostris, Dussum, Cuvier, Gray. S. and W. p. 241. Suppl. p. 68. Teeth g| or |i|, about five in an inch. Colour, black ; length, nearly seven feet. Inhab. Cape of Good Hope, Japan, Ceylon, and Malabar. Gray, B.M.C., p. 241. Suppl. p. 68. DELPHINUS DELPHIS, Linnaeus. The Common Dolphin. Synonyms DelpUnus delphis, Linn., Hunter, Desmarest, Jardine, Cuvier, Gray, Bell, Nilsson, p. 77. Teeth 5^5, slender, curved, elongate, six in an inch. Described from the skull only. Inhab. West Coast of North America. LAGENOEHYNCHUS CJEEULEO-ALBITS, Meyen. The Bluish-white Dolphin. Synonyms Delphinus cceruleo-albus, Meyen. LagenorJiynchus cteruleo-albus, Gray, S. and W., p. 268. DelpUnus albirostratus, Peale, Expl. Exped. Teeth ^, about six in an inch. Colour, " the back bluish, sides white, with oblique bluish streaks, belly white," in other specimens " dark blue-grey ; fins and back nearly black ; a dark line connects the corners of the mouth with the pectoral fins ; front and sides dark grey, covered with small vermicular white spots ; end of snout, white ; commissure of the lips pale yellow." Length from five and a half to six and a half feet. Inhab. Pacific Ocean. East Coast of South America. LAGKENOEHYNCHUS ? iNTEEMEDius 1 , Gray. The Small Killer. Synonyms DelpUnus intermedius, Gray, Ann. Phil., 1827. Orca intermedia, Gray, S. & W., p. 283. Feresa intermedia, Gray, Supp., p. 78. ii-n Teeth n^n? long? conical. From a single skull in the British Museum. Genus OECAELLA, 2 Gray. "Head blunt, rounded, very convex; body moderate; dorsal fin moderate ; pectoral fin broad. Skull : brain case, sub-globular ; beak very short, about f of the entire length of the skull, tapering, flat above ; palate flat in front ; rostral triangle very large, produced much in front of the maxillary notch ; lower jaw projects beyond the upper one ; symphysis short ; teeth small, slender, conical." OECAELLA BEEVisosTBis, 3 Owen. The Short-beaked Killer. Synonyms Phoccena brevirostris, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. vi, p. 24. Orca brevirostris,-Grra,y, S. & W., p. 285. Orcaella brevirostris, Gray, Sup pi., p. 80. Teeth uiu, slender, conical. Black ; body stout ; dorsal fin sub-centrical. Inhab : estuaries of the Ganges ; Madras. This species was first described in 1866, by Professor Owen, from the skull of a young animal, which was cast ashore in the harbour of Vizagapatam, on the east coast of India ; but since this period it has been observed by Dr. Anderson and Mr. Elliott. It is remarkable for 1 Intermediate. 2 Diminutive of Orca. 3 brems, short, and rostrum , beak. 87 the very short beak, for the slender, cone-like teeth, and in the living state for the round, almost globular top of the head, indicating its distinct nature and an approach towards the Grlobiocephalidse. OKCAELLA Fi/UMHSALis, 1 Anderson, M.S. The Irawady Dolphin. Synonyms Dolphin of the Irawady, Anderson, P.Z.S., 1870, pp. 220, 544. Orcaella fluminalis. Gray, Suppl., p. 80. Body slender, dirty white." Inhabits river Irawady, deep channels, from 300 to 1,000 miles from the sea. Genus OECA, 2 Eondelet. The Killer. Head rounded, scarcely beaked; dorsal fin high, falcate, central; pectoral fin broad, ovate ; skull rounded ; beak short, about one-half the entire length of skull ; lower jaw strong, thick and solid in front, broad on the sides ; symphysis moderate in length ; teeth large, acute, flattened transversely, incurved at their tips. On examining various skulls of the genera Orca and Pseudorca in our Museum, I was induced, from the variations presented, to analyze the tabulated admeasurements of others of various growths, recorded by Owen, Gray, Elower, G-ervais, &c., as well as the excellent illustra- tions in Van Beneden's work on the Cetacea, now in the course of publication. From this research I arrived at the conviction that age and sex, assisted by occasional individual peculiarities, have produced many of those material deviations in the cranial structure which are so pointedly adduced as denoting distinct specific characters. In illustration of this assertion, select from either of these two genera (of course of the same species) the lower jaws of old and young animals, and it will be found by their comparison that in old age the length of the symphysis, the solidity of the adjoining parts, and the posterior span at the condyles, have respectively assumed proportions greatly in excess of those which might reasonably have been anticipated by a computation derived by rule of three from the condition of the similar parts of the young animal. This additional massiveness of bone, and extra width of the grasping power of the mandible, beyond a proportionate increase in its length, would necessitate a corresponding change in the form of the cranium, sufficient to present a marked contrast between the skulls of the very aged and of the young adult. 1 flnminalis, of or belonging to a river. * Orca, the name given by Pliny to a large dolphin. 88 OECA GLADIATOR/ Bonnaterre. The Killer. Synonyms Delpkinus orca, Linnaeus. DelpJiinus gladiator, Bonnaterre. Delphinus grampus, Owen. Orca gladiator, Sundevall; Gray, S. & W., p. 279. Ardluksoalc is the name of the Greenlanders for the male, and Aidluik for the female. The males are much larger than the females. Colour black above, shading into white on the abdomen, with usually a more or less developed white patch above and somewhat behind the eye. The size of the adult males may be estimated at from 19 to 25 feet in length, with a girth varying from 10 to 12 feet ; but aged animals have been captured which have measured 30 feet long. The body is elongated and muscular, exhibiting a structure highly expressive of speed and enormous strength. NORTHERN VARIETIES. ORCA STENORHYNCHA, 2 Gray, Suppl. S. & W., p. 90. Teeth fn ; length of skull, 35 to 37 inches. Colour of animal black ; circumscribed spot behind the eye ; spot on belly ; and under side of tail white ; length 21 feet 3 inches. Inhab : North Sea. ORCA LATiROSTRis, 3 Gray, Suppl. S. & W., p. 91. Skull very similar to that of Orca capensis, but much smaller, and distinguishable from the skull of the Orca stenorhyncha "by the smaller size and broader, rounder nose." Inhab : North Sea. ORCA RECTIPINNA, Cope, Pro. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1869, p. 12. Differs from the Orca stenorhyncha of Gray, and the Orca ater of Cope, by having no white spot behind the eye. ORCA ATER, Cope, Pro. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1869, p. 92. Is known from being black above and below, but with a white spot behind the eye. Inhab : Oregon, Aleutian Islands. 1 gladiator, a hector, a bully. 2 From vyx*> beak. 101 Dr. Crowther more recently communicates, in the Proc. Zool. Soc. London, the following information, which materially adds to our knowledge of the habits of this cetacean : "This species is in reality a miniature Sperm Whale in its habits, &c., feeding upon the same food, geographically occupying the same localities as the Sperm "Whale, fol- lowing the great equatorial currents, so long as they retain their warmth, and met with in the greatest numbers in the southern hemisphere at those points where the equatorial meet the polar currents, eddies being formed in which no doubt the squid collects. I am not aware that Blackfish preys upon anything but squid 1 ; it is essentially gre- garious, countless hordes being met with where food is abundant. Length, 12 to 15 feet; diamater, 3 to 4 feet; weight, 2 to 3 tons, the former about the average. Oil, the only kind that will mix with sperm." Several other animals, said to be of the genus G-lobiocephalus, have been claimed as distinct species by zoologists ; they may be so, but no distinctive quality of any importance has been pointed out, beyond those variations incident to every one of the cetacea, and perpetually exhibited among the best known and most familiar of the family. These are G. affinis, Gray. North Sea. G-. intermedius, Harlan. Coasts of North America. G-. Edwardsii, A. Smith. Coasts of Cape of Good Hope. G. Grayi, Burmeister. Buenos Ayres. G. Scammonii, Cope. North Pacific. G. Indicus, Blyth. Bay of Bengal. G. Sieboldii, Grray. Japan. G. Sinensis, Blyth. China. G. Sibo, Gray. Japan. The foregoing list is compiled from Dr. Gray's Supplement to the Seals and Whales, pp. 84, 85. Genus SpiLEROCEpnALUs, 1 Gray. " Palate of the skull convex ; beak oblong, of nearly the same width the greater part of its length." Gray. SpHJEEOCEPHALtJS 2 INCBASSATUS, 3 Gray. The Thick-palated Deductor. Synonym SpJiwrocephalus incrassatus, Gray, S. & W., p. 324 ; Suppl. p. 85. Teeth ? or ^. Inhab : British Seas. 1 Dr. Crowther writes to me, that subsequently to this assertion, lie finds that in addition to the squid, the black-fish consume large quantities of fish and Crustacea ; for in the agonies of death, conger eels, crabs, crayfish, &c., have been ejected from their stomachs. 2 o-Qaipa, a globe, and Ked>aA^, the head. 3 Thickened. 102 A single skull in the British Museum has enabled Dr. Gray to create the foregoing genus : " It is so distinct, both in the form of the nose of the skull, in the width of the maxillary bones, and more especially in the thickness and convexity of the palate of the front part of the skull, from the species which have hitherto been described, and the differences are so visible, that Mr. Edward Grerrard selected it as a distinct species, as soon as he saw it." C. Long produced spiral tusk in upper jaw of male only. Family VIII. MONODONTID^!. 1 Without dorsal fin ; head short, rounded in front, scarcely beaked ; pectoral fins sub-oval, much longer than broad ; skull very convex, the hinder wing of the cheek-bone bending over the eye-cavity ; blade-bone with large spinal processes ; cervical vertebrae, usually free ; costo- sternal ribs ossified ; teeth few in both jaws, early deciduous, with the exception of one in the left side of the upper jaw of the male, occa- sionally in the female, developed into a very long spiral tusk, projecting forwards in a line with the axis of the body. Genus MoNODON, 1 Artedi. The characters descriptive of the genus, being the only one of the family, are given above. Mr. Mower remarks that the Monodon and Beluga are, in almost every part of their skeleton, nearly identical, and he considers the exceptional dentition of the former as an aberration of secondary impor- tance ; he therefore unites the two genera into a distinct sub-family, placing it next to the Platanistidae. MONODON MONOCEEOS, 2 Linnaeus. The Narwhal, or Sea Unicorn. Synonym Monodon monoceros, Linn., Schreb., Desm., Scoresby, &c. Gray, S. & W. p. 310 ; Suppl. p. 95. Sea Unicorn, Sowerby. Narwhal, Blumenb., Klein. The colour of this singular animal is dusky black on the upper sur- face, greyish on the sides and white underneath, variegated at different stages of its existence with more or less darker streaks and patches, disposed more numerously 011 the sides. The food of the Narwhal consists of cuttle-fish, crustaceans, fish, &c., and Mr. Scoresby records the contents of the stomach of one, killed by his crew ; " they consisted of several half-digested fishes, with others of which only the bones 1 fj.6vos, one, and oSovs, tooth. 1 yu^foy, one, and Kfpas, a horn, a tusk, 103 remained. These were the remains of a cuttle-fish, part of the spine of a flat fish, probably a small turbot, and a skate almost entire. The last was 2 feet 3 inches in length, and 1 foot 8 inches in breadth. It comprised the bones of the head, back and tail, the side fins, and con- siderable portions of the muscular substance. It appears remarkable that the Narwhal, an animal without teeth, a small mouth, and with stiff lips, should be able to catch and swallow so large a fish as a skate, the breadth of which is nearly three times as great as the width of its own mouth." The distinctive character of the Narwhal, not being possessed by any other whale, lies in the long projecting spiral tusk, produced pro- bably by the excessive growth of the canine tooth. This formidable weapon has been known to attain as much as 8 or 10 feet in length, while that of the animal, of course exclusive of this appendage, was from 14 to 16 feet only. It is hollow at the base and solid towards the extremity, and composed of fine close-grained ivory, of a dazzling and enduring whiteness, so extremely hard as to take a high polish. For- merly these tusks, very rarely brought to Europe, were regarded as the veritable horns of the fabulous unicorn, and were consequently valued as inestimable and almost priceless curiosities. The establishment of the Greenland fishery quickly dispelled all doubts as to the nature of their real character, and the present value now depends solely on the number of pounds weight the tusk might weigh. The Narwhals are gregarious, and met with in considerable numbers in the numerous creeks and bays of Greenland, Davis Straits, and Iceland, but solitary individuals occasionally stray as far south as the northern parts of Great Britain. Tusks of the Narwhal, in a semi-fossilized state, have been found in Siberia, on the coast of Essex and of Lyons. D. Teeth in lower jaw only. Family IX. GEAMPIDjE. 1 Head rounded, somewhat obtuse ; forehead very convex, not so pro- tuberant as in G-lobiocephalus, scarcely beaked ; dorsal fin distinct, but low ; pectoral fins well developed, ovate, rather elongate, placed low down on the side of the body ; skull depressed ; symphysis of lower jaw short ; cervical vertebrae anchylosed ; costo-sternal ribs ossified ; sternum composed of one piece, broad in front ; teeth few, conical in front part only of lower jaw ; those of the upper jaw early deciduous. The term Grampus (great fish) is, and has been, in scientific works, and in general conversation, very universally applied to denote among the odontocete the formidably dentated animal, the Killer^; and that of jBlackfish to distinguish the cetaceans of milder propensities and of 1 Grampus, contracted from the French, grampoise, grand poiston, great fish. 104 greater usefulness to man, such as the sperm, the caa'ing, and some other whales. Dr. Gray's present arrangement of the grampidao abruptly ignores this common understanding among people of many nations, and brings together under the old familiar name a group of beings, whose every trait of character is of exactly a contrary nature to that of the savage gladiator, and to whom the word Blackfish would have been much more suitable. In looking over the Catalogue of Seals and Whales, I find therein the following generic names : Hunteriut, Macleayus, JZschrichtius, Cuvierius, and Sibbaldius ; why not, in order to restore the Grampus to its original standing, and also as being appropriate, substitute the generic name now employed for that of Grayius, in honour of one distinguished in every branch of zoology, bub more particularly so in this, the marine mammalia ? GBAMPTJS (GRAYIUS ?) GBISETTS, Cuvier. Cuvier' s Dolphin. Synonyms Phoccena grisea. Lesson. Delphinus griseus. Cuvier. Grampus Cuvieri. Gray. S. & W., p. 295 ; Suppl. p. 83. Teeth g, truncated. Colour, bluish-black along the upper portions of the body, gradually assuming a dull white on the abdomen. The length seldom exceeds ten feet. The habit of herding together, of following a leader, and of uttering cries when stranded, appears to be possessed by this cetacean, in common with the globiocephalus ; but so much confusion by the indis- criminate use of the vague term "blackfish" is caused, that it is almost impossible to define with any degree of certainty what species of animal is meant. Inhab : North Sea Coast of Hampshire, England. GBAMPUS (GEAYITJS) KISSOAIOJS, Laurillard. Risso's Dolphin. Synonyms DelpJiinus aries, B/isso. Delphinus Rissoanus, Laur. DelpTiinus de JRisso, Cuvier. Grampus Eissoanus, Gray, S. & ~W., p. 298, Suppl. p. 82. Teeth ^ to ~J, rather small, truncate. Colour of the body bluish-white, relieved with irregular brown-edged scratch-like lines in all directions. Females uniform brown, with similar scratches. This species is very nearly allied to the preceding one, being of the same form and size, but differs principally in a slight variation of the colouring of the body, and the habitat of the animal considerations of minor importance in distinguishing species, and frequently deceptive. Inhab : Nice, Mediterranean. 105 GRAMPUS (GKAYITJS) (?) , EICHAEDSO^II, GKAY. Richardson's Dolphin. Synonym Grampus Ricliardsonii, Gray, S. &~W., p. 299, Suppl. p. 83. Teeth, Ji5, rather large, far apart, sub-cylindrical at the base, sym- physis of lower jaw wide in front. Dr. Gray describes this species from the lower jaw only, which pre- sents in the symphysis a variation of structure sufficient in his opinion to constitute a new species. Inhab : Cape of Good Hope. Family X. HYPEEOODONTID^B. Head beaked ; cheek-bones and hinder edge of the skull greatly elevated into high occipital crests by vertical bony partitions, rendering the form of the skull different to that of any other, cetacean, and highly asymmetrical ; upper jaw larger and broader than the lower one, dorsal fin small, subfalcate, placed much beyond the middle ; pectoral fins small, ovate, low down on the sides of the body ; costo-sternal ribs cartilaginous ; mandibular symphysis rather long. Teeth, ^2, or ?, well in front, small, conical, frequently hidden in the gums. Genus HYPEKOODON/ Lacepede. Forehead rounded in front ; beak of the skull with a high crest on each side, and with maxillary tuberosities at its base ; cervical vertebrae firmly anchylosed. HrPEROODON 1 BUTZKOPF 2 , Bonnateire. The Bottle-head. Synonyms Delphinus lutzkopf, Bonn. Hyper oodon lutzkopf, Lacep., Gray, S. & W., p. 330, Suppl. p. 97. Hyperoodon restrains, Lilljiborg, Flower. Inhab : North Sea. The colour of this frequently-caught whale on the English coast is glossy-black, becoming a pale lead-colour underneath. It is a large animal, reaching to the length of from twenty to thirty feet. The food consists principally of various kinds of cephalopods, for in the stomach of one stranded in 1853, were many hundred cuttle-fish beaks, so placed one within the other as to ride regularly imbricated in rows of ten, fifteen, or twenty together. , aboye, and oSofo, tooth ; in allusion to the teeth in the palate described by Baussard, but "which in all other specimens have neyer been seen. 2 butzTcopf (German), pointed head. 106 HTPEEOODON LATiFEONS 1 , Gray. The Heavy-headed Hyperoodon. Synonyms Hyperoodon latifrons, Gray, Voy. Erebus and Terror. Lagenocetus latifrons, Gray, S. & W., p. 339. Suppl. p. 97. Inhab : North Sea. The reflexed parts of the cheek-bones are in this species much thickened above, and in their altitude exceed the hinder edge of the skull ; lower jaw straight, and also the beak of the skull. Eeinhardt remarks that " Eschricht believed, as is known, that Hyp. latifrons was established on a very old male of the common Dogling (Hyperoodon rostratus), but Gray's species must now be regarded as well grounded." Genus ZIPHITTS, Cuvier. Forehead tapering ; beak of the skull simple, and without tuber- osities at its base ; respiratory aperture deep-seated ; cervical vertebra partially anchylosed. The intermaxillaries at their base, and the occipital bones, form by their enlarged prominent edges around the sides and behind the brain-case a large hemispherical cavity, which serves to receive the head matter or spermaceti. The cranium thus exhibits a strong connecting link in its general features between the Hyperoodon and the Physeteridae ; with the former, by the elongated beak and almost edentulous condition of the jaws, and with the latter by the well denned spermaceti-cavity. 2 ZIPHITIS CAViROSTBis 3 , Cuvier. The Mediterranean Ziphius. Synonym PetrorJiynchus mediterraneus, Gray, Suppl. p. 98. Inhab : Mediterranean. The skull of this singular cetacean was described about half a century ago by Cuvier as the type of an extinct species, from the semi-fossilized state in which it was found ; but which view, M. Gervais, from other examples has shown to be erroneous. ZIPHIFS GERVAISII, Duvernoy. Gervais' Ziphius. Synonyms Hyperooden Gervaisii, Duvernoy. Ziphius Gervaisii, Fischer. Epiodon Desmarestii, Gray, S. & W., p. 341, Suppl., p. 98. Inhab : Mediterranean. The only notice we possess of this cetacean is derived from the short account by Risso, of the form and colouration of the living animal, presuming his species to be the same as that described by Fischer, but of which I am uncertain, nay, very doubtful. 1 latus, broad, ample, andfrons, forehead. 2 Of the Ziphius cavirostris, Cuvier observes " Cette tete a, comme on voit, de grand rapports avec le cachalot) et encore deplus grands avec V Hyperoodon," Vol. V, p. 351, 1825. * an)us t hollow, and rostrum, the beak. 107 " Steel-gray, with numerous irregular white streaks; beneath white ; body thicker in the middle ; tail slender, long, keeled ; rounded on the belly ; head not swollen, ending in a long nose ; upper jaw short, toothless ; lower jaw much longer, bent up, and with two large conical teeth at the end ; teeth nicked near the tip ; the eyes small, oval ; blower-s large, semilunar ; pectoral fins short ; dorsal fin rather beyond the middle of the back ; the caudal fin broad, festooned. Length, nearly 16 feet. Inhab : Nice ; common, March and September," from Dr. Gray. ZIPHITJS IKDICTJS, Van Beneden. The Cape Ziphius. Synonyms Ziphius Indicus, Van Beneden. Ziphius du Cap-de-Bonne jEsperance, Gervais. PetrorJiynchus Capensis, Gray, S. & W., p. 346, Suppl. p. 98. Inhab : Coasts of Cape of Good Hope. A well-defined species, ascertained from skulls in the Paris and British Museums, and likewise from fossil remains found in the red crag beds of England of the Pleiocene period, the strata of which contain a great number of examples of extinct species of this and other families, and a few only of recent forms. Genus CnoKEziPHrus, 1 Duvernoy. The intermaxillaries at their anterior extremity are even and, connecting at their tips, display prominently a large channel : they, however, become towards their base very asymmetrical, forming there a deep funnel-shaped cavity. CHONEZIPHIUS PLAKIKOSTEIS, Cuvier. Synonym Ziphius planirostris, Cuvier. Found in the crag formation, France. Family XI. PHYSETERID^]. 2 Head of moderate or excessive size, more or less truncated in front ; mouth placed well beneath, rendering it necessary for the animal to turn on its side or back in order to seize its prey, an action not known in any other cetacean ; upper jaw toothless 3 , broader, more massive, and slightly shorter than the lower one ; under jaw slender, cylindrical in front, and received within the pendent upper lips, as in a furrow ; armed with numerous teeth, having pulp-cavities at their base ; symphysis of 1 x&v^i a tunnel or funnel, and Ziphius. 2 va"riT'f)p, a fan to blow the wind, a pair of bellows in allusion to the structure of the nostrils, which are capable of throwing up jets of spray. Ill PHTSETEB MACROCEPHALtrs, 1 Linnaeus. The Sperm or Spermaceti Whale. Synonyms PTiyseter macrocepkalus, Linn., O. Fabr., Shaw, Bell, Elower, Murie. Catodon macrocepJialus, Lacep., Gray, S. & W., p. 202, Suppl., p. 59. Catodon australis, Gray, S. & ~W., p. 206. Meganeuron Krefftii, Gray, S. & W., p. 387, Suppl. 59. Teeth -jfV to a 2 ?- on each ramus, large, conical, often worn down. The above generic characters apply to this species, and which I believe to be the only one of the true sperm whale. The massive head of the living animal is truncated in front ; the blunt extremity, which projects considerably beyond the lower jaw, is com- posed of a thick, fatty substance, called by seamen the junk : this junk is at all times large, but in a large whale it weighs between two and three tons, and serves from its elasticity to act as a buffer to lessen the effect of sudden concussion accidentally received when the huge mass is in rapid motion. The great weight of the bones of the skull is efficiently buoyed up, partly by the light material of which the junk is composed, but prin- cipally by the large quantity of oil, of course of much lesser specific gravity than the surrounding water, pent up in the cranial reservoir, and usually estimated at from three to five hundred gallons ; a fact well illustrated by the few lean individuals occasionally met with at sea, who express by their actions a general want of buoyancy, but more especially in the head. The mouth is large, lined throughout with a pearly white membrane, and terminates in a throat sufficiently large to allow a free passage to the body of a man. The eyes are small, and placed over the angle of the mouth. Under the outer skin lies a layer of yellowish-coloured blubber, termed by whalers the blanket, which varies in thickness from 8 to 14 inches, the breast, dorsal hump, and upper margin of the tail affording the thickest, and from which is obtained the sperm oil of commerce. The more valuable product, the spermaceti, is almost wholly abstracted from the cavity on the crown of the head, and frequently amounts to ten large barrels in the crude state. The colour of the body along the upper surface is very dark, occa- sionally black, and fades into a lighter tint on the sides and belly, becoming silvery-grey under the chest. 1 na.Kp6s, long, and Kt^aX-f], the head. 112 When fully matured by ago, the male of this gigantic race of beings s said to have reached in length to eighty-four feet, with a girth at the largest part of thirty-six feet. In the absence of the actual specimen, an ideal estimate of this enormous bulk may be arrived at by viewing the excellent skeleton, fifty-seven feet in length, of the same species, recently erected in the Australian Museum, and imagining it nearly half again as long. The ordinary food of the Sperm "Whale is derived from various kinds of Calamaries, or squids, and especially from that species called, from its habit of leaping out of water, the flying squid, an animal well known from its extreme abundance in all the open seas of the world, and from its extensive use as bait in the Newfoundland cod fisheries. There can be no doubt, however, that other food, such as fish, crustaceans, and even seals and dolphins, is likewise indulged in. Otho Fabricius, and other writers of about his time, describe these whales as existing plentifully in the higher latitudes of the northern seas ; but old and young being alike subjected to unceasing persecution, the race has been almost entirely driven away from the North Atlantic. Mr. E. Brown, whom we have had occasion already to quote in regard to the habits of the Northern Killer, remarks of the sperm whale that, " whatever it was formerly, it is now only known to Davis Strait whalers by name, and I could only hear of one recent instance of its being killed on the coast of Greenland near Proven (72 N. lat.), in 1857." Professor Lilljeborg, also, in his " Synopsis of the Scandinavian "Whales, 1861," considers the sperm whale as foreign to the Fauna of Norway and Sweden. There are, however, numerous instances in modern times of their appearance in small groups off the Orkneys, and of individuals being stranded on the British Coast. " They are essentially inhabitants of the tropical and warmer parts of the temperate seas, and they pass freely from one hemisphere into another. Between the North Atlantic and the Australian Seas there is no barrier interposed to animals of such-great powers of locomotion." 1 " Few connect the pursuit of this sea-least with the smiling latitudes of the South Pacific, and the coral islands of the Torrid Zone." 2 Never- theless they are still the occupants of the colder regions of the south, for " sperm whales were seen in the Antarctic Seas as high as latitude 71 50' " 3 Thus, the sperm whale is capable, from its endurance of varied tempera- ture and a permanent supply of food, of roaming at pleasure the entire seas embraced within the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Were, therefore, the fisheries conducted on judicious principles, those of capturing the adults at certain seasons only, and at all times sparing the young, these animals, of the greatest commercial value 1 W. H. Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc., 1868. 3 Beale, 1835. 8 Captain Koss, B.N., Antarctic Yoyage. 113 among the denizens of the deep, would again become as abundant in the waters of both hemispheres as they were in olden times, and afford a steady and profitable source of employment for capital, and a wide field for the training of a hardy race of seamen. Although widely dispersed, the cachalot appears to select the strong ocean currents and their back-water as favourite feeding-grounds ; for in such places innumerable floating minute molluscs, medusaB and crustaceans are gathered together, and which, in their turn, attract hordes of larger animals, the peculiar prey of our whale. In habits the cachalots are gregarious, mostly seen in groups, techni- cally termed schools, of from twenty to fifty, made up of half-grown males, or of females and their young, guarded by a few of the older males. Large and full-grown males during certain periods go singly in search of food, but when an individual is met with far from the herd, it is usually found to be an old lull, who has retired into a solitary state of existence. When about to emigrate from one feeding-ground to another, several schools frequently unite, and conjointly make the passage, swimming in a direct course at a rapid rate, with their heads raised well above the water, and their bodies so near the surface that their backs are often seen. Arrived at their destination and replete with food, they become widely scattered, lazily basking on the surface, or in deep repose, or leisurely casting from the nostrils, at each spout, a succession of vapoury jets, at regular intervals of ten or fifteen seconds ; or when the fit takes them, gamboling with an uncouth vigorous agility, which frequently displays the entire of the gigantic frame several feet in the air. The usual rate of speed is from 8 to 10 miles an hour ; but the greatest is attained by the painful prick of the harpoon, when it reaches to 15 miles ; a velocity very inferior to that of many others of the family, and not to be mentioned as a boast of fast travelling in these rail- road times. Desirous of feeding, or of avoiding- an indifferent object, the cachalot settles down to the required depth, by gradually and leisurely lowering itself in a horizontal position ; when alarmed, the head assumes a downward tendency, and the tail rises vertically in the air, and the animal plunges headlong, almost perpendicularly, into the deep, and remains submerged from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter. The male cachalot of 60 feet long, will have a pectoral fin of about 3 feet, and a caudal one, the principal organ of progression, of 19 feet across ; in good condition, such an animal will yield about 100 barrels of oil, and 12 barrels of spermaceti. The female (which rarely attains to one-half of the length of the male), of 35 feet, will measure across the caudal fin 12 feet, produce about 50 barrels of oil, and a proportional supply of spermaceti. The teeth of aged males commonly weigh from 2 to 4 pounds each ; the ivory of which they are composed is hard, and capable of taking a Mgh polish ; but for commercial purposes it is held in much less estima- tion than that obtained from the tusks of the elephant. " The crown jewels of Viti were kept in a wooden box, in charge of the widow of the late Governor of Namose. First, there was a neck- lace of whales' teeth, the first that ever came to the mountain ; secondly, a large whale's tooth, highly polished and carefully wrapped up in cocoa- nut fibre (whales' teeth are in Fiji what diamonds are with us) ; thirdly, a cannibal's foot in the shape of a club, and bearing the name -of strike twice, that is, first the man and then his flesh." 1 The rare and valuable substance known as ambergris is produced, as a morbid concretion, in the intestines of sickly or diseased cachalots, and usually found floating in impure masses on all the seas of warm climates, or thrown upon the beach ; it is then of a greyish colour, mottled with black, somewhat hard and brittle, and when heated, emits a strong, fragrant, musky odour ; these lumps occur from a quarter of a pound to forty in weight, and the retail price, of course freed from all impurities, is about one guinea the ounce. Ambergris is now only used as a perfume, its medicinal virtues having long fallen into disrepute. To those of my readers who take an interest in the details connected with whalers and whale ships, I recommend the perusal of the enter- taining descriptions given by Sowerby, Bell, Beale, Bennett, and Jardine, all of whom enter largely, beyond the scientific portions, into many interesting anecdotes relative to the capture of these cetaceans, and to the hardships occasionally endured by the men engaged in their pursuit. These hardships undoubtedly arise from the protracted servitude on board, inclement seasons, and frequent shipwrecks. I take no pleasure in recounting the sufferings of these harmless -creatures, nor do I especially admire daring of men when subjected to no danger, except that caused purely by negligence or accident. I do not consider, as amusement, the many acts of cruelty recorded in these and similar works, unnecessarily committed by sailors, when wholly unrestrained by wholesome enactments. In conclusion, I cannot refrain from offering a passing tribute of thankfulness that, in my own time, other grand products, profusely 'derived from inorganic matter, and of an infinitely superior and more economic character, have been discovered to provide for the illumina- tion of our streets and dwellings and for lubricating our machinery, and which have already had a direct tendency to stay the cruel hand, .and reduce the waste of life to within much narrower bounds. I allude to gas and kerosene, which, when supplemented by steel, are steadily superseding in many branches of our industry the employ- ment of whale-oils and whale-bone. ' l Yiti : an account of a Government Mission to the Titian or Fijian Islands, in the years 1860-1861. By Berthold Seeman. 115 The lessened demand for these still important articles has consequently materially decreased the number of ships engaged in the trade ; and, in combination with the diminution of the species, has rendered the returns too precarious for the profitable investment of capital. I will now briefly notice that portions of the fossil organic remains of the Cachalot have frequently been found, greatly resembling in structure the existing animal. Professor Owen describes some of these fossil bones, which were obtained from the coast of Essex, England ; M. G-ervais has named the animal whose relics were discovered at Montpelier, France, in the most modern of the tertiary deposits, the Phys. antiquus ; and M. Jaeger mentions, under the name of Phys. molassicus, another species found in Germany. Genus BAL^NODON, 1 Owen. Fragmentary relics disinterred from the red crags of the Meiocene period at Felixstowe, England, exhibited teeth very similar to those of the Sperm Whale, upon which character the present genus was founded. M. Meyer has since discovered a skull at Lintry, in Austria, which he places under the Balaenodon of Owen, although he thinks that in many particulars, other than the teeth, it approaches nearer to the Zeuglodon than to the Cachalot. Balaenodon physaloides of Owen, and Balsenodon lentianus of Meyer, are the two species alluded to. W/v, 4 ^f -7*^ Family XII. MESOPLODONTIP^E. Dorsal fin small, subfalcate ; head beaked ; forehead receding ; throat longitudinally plaited (?); pectoral fins small, low down towards the middle of the chest; skull small, narrow, upper part asymmetrical; frontal portion high ; occipital scarcely rounded, flattish ; anterior surface of the premaxillae curves forwards over the breathing apertures ; beak much elongated, tapering, narrow ; maxillary bones simple, expanding horizontally over the orbits, without tuberosities at the base ; inter- maxillaries somewhat swollen behind, not forming a basin round the nostrils ; upper jaw shorter and narrower than the lower one, so that when the mouth is closed the upper beak is let within the teeth of the lower one, departing, in this particular, widely from other toothed whales ; lower jaw broad behind, narrowed in front ; mandibular symphysis moderate, short ; cervical vertebrae partially anchylosed ; costo-sternal ribs cartilaginous ; teeth, at the most, two pair, com- pressed, in lower jaw only, occasionally largely developed. balcena, whale, and 65ovs, tooth. 116 Genus MESOPLODON, Gervais. Beak of the skull nearly five-sevenths of the entire length of the cranium, keeled on each side ; brain-cavity small ; teeth n? placed nearly in the centre of each ramus, of the male large, of the female much smaller ; mandibular symphysia about two-sevenths of the entire length of ramus. MESOPLOBON SOWEEBIENSIS, de Blainville. Sowerby's Ziphius. Synonyms Physeter bidens, Sowerby. Delphinus Sowerbiensis, de Blainville, JLeterodon Sowerbyi, Lesson. ZipUus Sowerbienis, Gray, S. & W., p. 350, Suppl. p. 101. Mesoplodon Sowerbiense, Gervais, Bened. Diplodon Sowerbiense, Gervais. Mesoplodon Thomsoni (?) Krefft, MSS. Teeth n> much compressed, placed on the anterior third of the ramus, their points directed upwards, and somewhat backwards. Inhab : North Sea, Coasts of Europe, Coast of New South Wales (?) Very few solitary specimens of this species in the living state have- only been secured since its first discovery in 1800 on the coasts of Scotland, and these have been found stranded on the shores of Ireland, Erance, Norway, and the Netherlands, to which list of localities may possibly be added that of New South Wales. ' Of two of these captured animals, one is described as black above and greyish beneath, and the skin presented a soft, satiny appearance ; the other, as having the upper portion of a brownish-lead colour, and the belly bluish and ash. In length the adults varied from 11 to 16 feet. The skeleton in the Australian Museum, which, for the present is considered as a synonym, is that of an animal stranded at the latter end of 1870 on the beach near Little Bay, shortly to the north of Botany Heads. This skeleton I have compared with the excellent engravings of the Mesop. Sowerbiensis in MM. Yan Beneden and Gervais " Ost. des Cetaces," but I cannot detect any essential difference of structure between them, although the separating geographic range of habitat is of a maximum nature. I have been lately told that Mr. Flower, on being supplied with a brief description and photographs, has expressed a similar opinion of their identity. A more careful investigation into details may possibly reveal some differentiating character, and, if I am permitted the use of a little 117 special pleading, " which, together with the great improbability of the same species being found in such widely different regions," may justify its separation from the M. Sowerbiensis. If so, I would suggest that the specific name of Thomsoni, Krefft, be retained, in regard to the memory of one whose loss I consider as a public calamity to this country. MESOPLODON LATAEDH, Gray. Layard's Ziphius. Synonyms Ziphius Layardii, Gray, S. & "W., p. 353. Dolicliodon Layardiij Gray, Suppl. p. 101. Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. Teeth " in the middle of the sides of the lower jaw. Teeth of the 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." Gray. This singular cetacean is only known from the solitary specimen of a skull in the British Museum ; and the striking peculiarity which it at once presents to observation consists in the elongated teeth of the mandible, for these " arch over th'e outer surface of the upper jaw, and thus prevent the animal from opening its mouth beyond a very limited extent." It has been suggested that this strange dental growth, certainly unique, if natural, in the history of living beings, and threatening to prove ultimately fatal to the very existence of its possessor, might have been the result of individual peculiarity, or malformation ; but Dr. Gray thinks otherwise, and has recently formed the genus Dolichodon, or long-toothed, for its reception. It is very desirable that several other examples in a similar state of dental perfection should be brought to light, for otherwise there is nothing to excite surprise. Genus DiOPLODON, 1 Gervais. Skull high, narrow, nearly flat behind ; brain-cavity very small ; beak depressed, much elongated, tapering to a point ; much narrower and shorter than, and received within the teeth of, the mandible ; lower jaw broad behind, contracted in front ; rami high on the sides, rather stout, terminating upwardly in front of the teeth in an arched manner ; symphysis short, about one-fifth of the entire length of the ramus ; teeth large, compressed, greatly elevated, being embedded in large sockets, which swell in a rugged manner from the upper surface of the rami, giving the mandible a peculiarly distinctive form. 1 f iy, twice, oir\a, arms, and otiovs, tooth, that is, armed with two teeth. 118 DIOPLODON DENSIBOSTBIS, de Blainville. The Dioplodon. Synonyms ZipJiius densirostris, de Blainville. Mesodiodon densirostris, Duvernoy. Dioplodon densirostris, Gervais. Dioplodon Sechettensis, Gray, S. & W., p. 355, Suppl. p. 102. Teeth , placed on the anterior third of the rami ; the posterior edge of the symphysis does not reach the teeth. Inhab : Seychelles, Lord Howe's Island. " The total length of the skeleton, without cartilage, is 14 feet 8 inches ; the head measures 2 feet 5i inches in length, and 14 inches across at the widest part ; the lower jaw 2 feet 3 inches long, and 6^ inches high behind the tooth ; five anterior pairs of ribs are jointed to the sternum ; sternum composed of four pieces ; the left tooth measures 6 inches in length, 3f in width, and If thick"; condensed from Mr. Krefft's account in the Pro. Zool. Soc., 1870. This unique and valuable skeleton had been for many years lying in a neglected state on Lord Howe's Island, when it was seen by Mr. Edward Hill. The gentleman being aware of the rare nature of the remains, impressed upon the residents that, if the bones were carefully collected and taken to Sydney, he would guarantee to them a favourable sale, and advised them to apply first at the Museum, of which he is a Trustee. In consequence of this advice, the skeleton, nearly complete, reached Sydney, and Mr. Krefft at once secured it for the establishment over which he is the Curator. Genus BEEABDITJS, Duvernoy. Dorsal fin small, subfalcate (?) ; skull, head small, upper portion nearly symmetrical ; anterior surface of the preinaxillse do not curve forwards ; beak subcylindrical , narrow, much elongated, nearly five-sevenths of the entire length of cranium ; mandibular symphysis moderate, about one-fourth of the entire length of the ramus, and not anchylosed ; teeth compressed, moderate sized, in front of the lower jaw only. BEBABDIUS ABJTOUXI, Duvernoy. New Zealand Berardius. Synonyms Berardius Arnuxii, Duvernoy, Gray, S. & "W., p. 348 ; Suppl., p. 99. Hector, Knox, Haast, Trans. New Zealand Institute. Berardius Arnouxi, Mower, Trans. Zool. Soc. } 1872. Teeth $3, smaller than in ziphius, frequently not passing through the gums. " Colour deep velvet-black ; belly greyish ; pectoral fins a little above the middle of the body ; dorsal fin small, falcate. 119 " The animal has the power of protruding the four teeth at will ; it was young ; lived on cephalopods, for the stomach contained about a bushel of the horny beaks of the octopus, which were nearly all of the same size ; and it measured in length 30 feet 6 inches. " This whale was cast ashore on the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand." From Dr. Haast 1868. Duvernoy's specimen, obtained in 1846 at the Port of Akaroa, was 32 feet long. A smaller one was stranded in 1862 on the west coast of New Zealand, and described by Dr. Hector and Mr. Knox ; and in 1870 another animal of this species was captured near the entrance to Port Nicholson. This measured 27 feet, and is described in the Trans, of the New Zealand Institute, by Mr. Knox : " The tooth is still sheathed in the gum, being embedded in a tough cartilaginous sac, which adheres loosely in the socket of the jaw, and is moved by a series of muscular bundles that elevate and depress it." There is no representative of this cetacean in the Australian Museum, ( I2 7 63, 132 134, BALJ3NID.E ........................ 63, 132 BALJENODON ........................... 63, 115 BALJSNOPTEBA .................. 63, 125, 126 balcenoptera ........................ 120 to 124 BAL^ENOPTEEID^ ............ 63, 120 baleine d'Ostend ........................ 123 barbata .................................... 38 basilosaurus .............................. 57, 58 fiavaricum ................................. 46 Bay of Biscay whale .................. 134 beaked whales ........................... 125 beaumontii ................................. 55 BELUGA ........................... 63, 97, 98 BELUaiDJB ........................... 63, 97 BEKABDIUS .............................. Il8 bidens ....................................... 116 biscayensis .............................. 134 bladder-nose .............................. 3 1 blain villii ................................. 66 boliviensis ................................. 65 bonserensis .............................. 126 boops ....................................... 123 boops ............................ ........... 127 bordse .................................... 69 borealis ................................ 96, 123 borealis .................................... 56 bottle-head... .............. 105 11 INDEX. brasiliensis 129 Iredanensis 69 breviceps 85, 108 brevidens 93 brevinmnus 71 brevirostris 86 Inwmeisteri 129 butzkopf 105 caa'ing whale 99 cachalot 99 cseruleo-albus 86 californianus 8, 22 callocephalus 35, 37, 38 callorhinus 8 canadensis 98 capensis 70, 78, 89 capensis : 107 caperea 136 Cape whale 136 carcinophaga 43 Carolina 121 catalania 82 catodon 97 catodon , in cavirostris 106 CETACEA 3, 60, 63 chamissonis 79 CHAMPSODELPHIM: 63, 67 CHAMPSODELPHI3 63, 67 ckeirotherium 55 cTiinensis 126 CHONEZIPHITJS 63, 107 cinerea 13, 21 rinereus 13, 14, 15 cisarctica 134 clanculus 85 clymene 79 clymenia 70, 76 to 80 coju-mero 50 common seal 35 Page communis 94 communis 120 compressicaudus 79 compressus 69 cordieri 55 crab-eating seal 43 crassidens 91 crested seal 31 cristata 31 crucigera 85 cuvieri 46 cumeri 55, 104 cuvierius 121 cymodoce 82 CYSTOPHOEA 5, 30, 31 cystophora 28 CYSTOPHOEID^E 5, 27 declivis 98 deductor 99 DEINOTHERIA 3, 44 DEINOTHERIOIDJE 44 DEINOTHEBIUM 44, 46 delalandii 13 DELPHINAPTERIIXE 63, 95 DELPHINAPTEBUS 63, 95 delphinapterus 73, 96, 97, 98 DELPHINTD^; 63, 68 DELPHINUS 63, 72 tO 80 delpUnus...6$ to 71, 81 to 89, 94, 95, 98, 99, 104, 105, 116 delphinoides 58, 59 delphinorhynchus 44, 65, 69 delphis 72 densirostris 118 desmarestii 106 dicJcei 78 DIOPLODON 117, Il8 dioplodon 116 dolifhodon 117 dolphin of the Ganges 64 INDEX. Ill Page dolphins 68 to 86 dorides 78 doris 78 dorydon 57 dubium 55 dubius 78 dugong 52 duguidii 120 edwardsii 101 electra 84 electra 85 elephantinus 28 epiodon 106 erebennus 81 ETJBALJSNA 63, 134, 135, 136 eulophus 19 eumetopias 22 euphrosyne 77 eupJiysetes 108 europseus 89 eurynome 82 eutropia 78 falklandicus 13, 14, 15 falklan&icus 19 fasciata 37 feresa 86 finback of Kerguelen's Land 126 finner whales 120 flat-back 123 flowerius . 123 fluminalis 87 fluviatilis 71 foetida 37 forsteri 76 forsteri 14 fossile 55 frsenatus 77 frithii 75 frontatus 69 Page frontatus 65 fulvifasciatus 74 fusiformis 84 gadamu 70 gangetica 64 gangetica 65 geoffroyensis 65 gervaisii 106 gibbosus 131 giganteum 46 ffiffas 5 6 > I2 3 gillespii 20 gladiator 88 glaucus 131 globiceps 89, 99 GLOBIOCEPHALID^E 63, 99 GLOBIOCEPHALUS 63, 99, 1OO, IOI GEAMPID^ 63, 103 GffiAMPUS 63, 104, 105 grampus 88, 89, 99 grateloupii 58, 59 grayii 19, 101, 108 Greenland whale 132 grey seal 39 grisens 104, 140 grcenlandica 38 grcenlandica 132 grjpus 39 guettardii 55 guianensis 71 hair seals 20, 22 HALiCHffiBtrs 5, 39 Tialichwrus 43 HALICOEE 51, 52, 54 HALITHEEIUM 54, 55 harp seal 38 hastatus 78 heavisidii 7^ heterodon . 116 IV INDEX. Page hippopotamus "... 55 hispida 37 holbdllii 77 hooded seal 31 TiooJceri . 24 hump -backed whales 127 hunterius 134, 136 Tiydrarchus 57 HYPEEOODON 105, 106 hyperoodon 106 HYPEKOODONTIIXU 63, 105 incrassatus 101 indi 65 indicum 46 indicus 101, 107 INIA 63, 65 intermedius 86, 101 japonica janira ... jubata 135 73 24 keporkak 127 killers, the 86 to 93 kingi 98 ZOGIA 63, 108 Jconigii 46 Jcrefftii in Jcuzira 128 lagenocetus 106 LAGENOBHYNCHTTS 63, 83 to 86 lalandii 128 lamantin 51 lateralis 79 laticeps 123 latifrons 106 latirostris 88 latirostris 50, 121 layardii 117 lentiginosus 70 leo ., 22 Page leonina 24, 31 leopard seal 40, 42 leporina 38 leporine seal 38 leptonyx 40 leptonyx 42 leucopleurus 85 leucopleurus 84 leucorampJms 95 lobatus 21 lobodon 43 longimana 124, 127 longirostris 72 macleayi 108 macrocephalus in macrogenius 67 MACEOEHINTTS 5, 27, 28, 30 macrorhynchus 100 macrospondylus 58 maculiventer 70 magellanica 89 major 73 malayanus 70 MAMMALIA 2 manatee 50 MANATIDJS 49 MANATUS 50, 51 manatus 55, 56 marginata 1 36 marginatus 73 marinus 22 mastodon 46 maximum 46 maximus borealis 121 Mediterranean seal 33 Mediterranean ziphius 1 06 mediterraneus 106 medium 46 mediiis 55 meerhund 35 INDEX. Page meganeuron in MEGAPTERA 63, 127, 128, 129 MEG-APTERIDJE 63, 127 megazoophaga 63, 64 melas 99 melas 95 meridionalis 92 mesodiodon 118 MESOPLODON 63, Il6, 117 MESOPLODONTID^; 63, 115 metaxitkerium 55 metis 81 microps 80 microzoophaga 63, 119 minutum 46 mirounga 28 mitrata 31 molassicus 55, 67 MONACHTJS 5, 32, 33 monk seal 32, 33 monoceros 102 MONODON 63, 102 MONODONTID^ 63, 102 vnonteriensis 22 moorei , 73 morse 25, 26 morunga 28, 30 musculus 120 mystica 129 mysticetus 132 narwhal 102 neobal&na 136 NEOMEEI3 63, 95, 96 neophoca 21 nigrescens 13, 14 nordkapper 132 normalis 79 norwega 129 novae zealandise 74 nova eealandice 128 Page obliquidens ................................. 75 obscurus ................................. 79 obtusa ................................... 84 oceanica .................................... 38 ODONTOCETE ..................... 63, 64 ommatophoca .............................. 43 opJiysia .................................... 89 OECA ........................... 63, 87, 88, 89 orca ....................................... 86 orcaeUa .............................. 63, 86, 87 ospJiyia .................................... 129 Ostend whale .............................. 123 OTAEIA ................................. 5, 22, 24 otaria ........................... 8, 13, 20, 21 OTAEIAD^E ........................... 5, 7 pacifica .................................... 89 pagomys .................................... 37 pagopMlus ................................. 38 pallidus .................................... 71 pararensis ................................. 48 patonichus ................................. 122 pelagius ................................. 32, 33 perniger .................................... 74 peronii ....... . ............................ 95 peronii .................................... 73 , ..................... 106, 107 PHOCA ........................... 5, 35, 37, 38 phoca 8, 13, 14, 24, 28, 31, 33, 39, 40, 55 PHOC^NA .............................. 63, 93 phoccena ............ 79, 84, 86, 91, 94, 104 phocsenoides .............................. 95 pJiocarctos ................................. 24 PHOCID^E ............ ....... . .......... 5> 32 phocodon ................................. 59 PHTSALUS ..................... 63, 120 tO 123 PHTSETEE ........................ 63, 110, III pTiyseter ........................... 97> Io8 > II6 PHYSETERID^: .................. 63, 107 piked whales .............................. 125 VI INDEX. Page PINNATA 3, 4 PINNIPEDIA 5 planiceps 69 planirostris 107 PLATANISTA 63, 64, 65 PLATANISTHXE 63, 64 plumbeus 70 podolicus 46 poescopia 128 pomeegra 75 PONTOPOEIA 63, 66 PONTOPORIAD^E 63, 66 porpoise, common 94 proavum 46 proloscidea 28 PSEUDOBCA 63, 91, 92 pterolcelana 120, 123 punctatus 77 rapacious whales 64 raulinii 55 razor-back 120 rectipinna 88 rhachianectes 131 rhinodon 98 EHTTINA 55, 56 richardsoni 105 right whales 132 right whale, South Sea 136 ringed seal 37 rissoanus 104 rorqual du cap 128 rorqual du nord 123 rorqualus 128 rorqiialus minor 125 roseirentris 71 rosmarus 26 Boss's large-eyed seal 43 rossii 43 rostrata 123 rostrata , 125 Page rostratus 69 restrains 105 ritdolphius 123 sao scammonii .......................... 75 .......................... 101 schlegelii .................................... 124 scrag whales ............................. 131 sea-bear .................................... 8 calf .................................... 35 cow .................................... 26 4 2 smooth-backed dolphins ............... 95 INDEX. Vll Page sotalia 71 South Sea black-fish 100 sowerbiensis 116 sperm whale in spermaceti whale in SPH^KOCEPHALUS 63, IOI SQT7ALODON 59 squalodon 57, 58 squid-eaters 97 stelleri 22, 56 stelleri 20 steller's manatee 56 stemmatopus 31 STEKO 63, 69, 70, 71 stenodelpMs 66 stenorhyncha 88 STENORHYNCHUS 5, 40, 42, 43 stenorhynchus 76 STEEEODELPHIS 63, 93 studeri 55 styx 80 susu of the G-anges 64 svineval 99 swinhoei 126 tabernaculi 54 tapir 46 tapirus 46 tasmanica 89 temminckii 136 tethyos 80 teuthophaga 63, 97 Page thicolea 85 ihomsoni ? u6 TOXODON 44, 47, 48 TOXODONTIDJE 47 TEACHITHERITTM 55 TKICHECHOXE 5, 25 TBICHBCHUS 5, 26 trichechus 50, 51, 52, 55, 56 truncatus 81 tulerculifera 94 tucuxi 71 TTJESIO 63, 81, 82 71, 77, 78, 79, 85 ursina ursinus vacha marina 55 vitulina 35 walkeri 75 walrus 25, 26 weddellii 42 whalebone whales 119 yangan, yungun 52 ZALOPHUS 5, 20, 21 zeehund 35 ZEUGLODON k 57, 58 ZEUGLODONTIA 57, 58 ZIPHIUS 63, 106, 107 ziphius 116, 117, 118 Sydney : Thomas Richards, Government Printer. 1873. 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