SPERM WHALES 185 



whale. And it has been shown that the foetal 

 Cachalot is so far more like the Kogia. In the fcetal 

 Cachalot it has been pointed out by Sir R. Owen that 

 the lacrymal is only united to the squamosal by 

 ligament ; the bone is thus independent of the 

 squamosal as is the case in the adult Kogia. In 

 Kogia the pterygoids are not so completely united 

 in the middle line as they are in Physeter, a character 

 in which the former genus seems to be at a lower 

 level than Physeter ; Kogia seems to have (at any 

 rate in the species K. simus} a pair of functional teeth 

 in the upper jaw. In Physeter there are small teeth 

 apparently non-functional in the upper jaw as in the 

 Ziphiids generally. 



There is one feature in the vertebral column which 

 seems to point to the more basal position of Kogia 

 in the series. The posterior dorsal vertebrae are not 

 supported by special outgrowths of the centra to 

 which they are attached ; in Physeter such processes 

 exist in the case of the last two ribs, as has been 

 explained in detail already. 



On the whole then these various considerations, 

 drawn from different organs of the body, lead us to 

 consider Kogia to be the most primitive of the Sperm 

 whales. It is the most dolphin-like of those aberrant 

 Cetacea. For this reason we shall commence the 

 survey of the sub-family with a description of Kogia 

 and its species. 



This genus, KOGIA, consists of at most three 

 species, all of which are small whales 9-13 feet in 



