2 o8 A BOOK OF" WHALES 



the waves, were thrown on the sand ; the terror 

 redoubled when they saw them followed by a very 

 large number of these colossal and living Cetaceans." 

 There were altogether thirty-two of the monsters 

 stranded on that occasion. It is a curious fact that 

 the majority of these individuals were females. They 

 had probably sought the shore for breeding purposes. 

 This whale, as is related of so many others, is said 

 to possess a great tenderness for its offspring. As 

 with other whales but one is born at a time, but 

 occasionally there are two.* 



EXTINCT ODONTOCETES 



We shall refer here to two extinct Cetaceans from 

 the Miocene of Patagonia, of which one at any rate 

 Physodon is apparently a Physeterid. As to the 

 other, its systematic position is not so plain. Physo- 

 don, when it is more fully known, will probably have 

 to be placed in a distinct family, Physodontidae. The 

 general outline of the skull is much like that of 

 Physeter. It is crested, as in that whale, but the 

 rostrum is shorter, and so comes to resemble that of 

 Kogia. As Kogia appears to be a more ancient type 

 of Physeterid than Physeter, this likeness is perhaps 

 of some significance. Its most salient feature is the 

 existence of teeth in both upper and lower jaws. In 

 the upper there are some 22 teeth on each side, and 

 24 on each ramus of the mandible. A noteworthy 



* See also for stranded Sperm whales TURNER, " Notes on some Rare 

 Prints of Stranded W hales," Jonrn. Anat. Phys., xii., 1878, p. 593. 



