CETACEA. 209 



Delphinapterus, Lacep. 



Only differs from the Porpoises in having no dorsal fin. 



D. leucas, Gm.; D. albicans, Fabr.; Huid Jisk of the Danes; 

 Scoresby, Arct. Reg. II, pi. xiv. (The Beluga.) Nine teeth 

 throughout, thick and blunt at the end; skin of a yellowish 

 white; head, externally convex, like that of a Porpoise; as large 

 as the Grampus. Found in the Frozen Ocean, whence it often 

 ascends rivers to some distance.(l) 



B. leucoramphus, Peron.; Voy. de la Coq. pi. ix.(2) Inhabits 

 the South seas; the head is convex and pointed; the muzzle, a 

 part of the pectoral fins, and the whole under part of the body 

 of a beautiful white. The back is blue, and it has from thirty- 

 eight to forty-two teeth throughout. The 



B. phocsenoides IS a sptcits of this subgenus, discovered by 

 M. Dussumier at the Cape; it has the round head, and the 

 compressed and obtuse teeth of the Porpoise. (3) 



HypEROODON, Lacep.(4) 



The body and muzzle very similar externally to those of the Dolphin 

 properly so called; but the cranium is elevated at its edges by vertical 

 bony partitions; they are generally found to have but two small teeth 

 in front of the lower jaw, which do not always appear externally; 

 their palate is studded with small tubercles. 



One species only is known, which attains a length of from 

 twenty to twenty-five feet, and perhaps more. It is taken in 

 the British Channel and the North Sea, and is often called the 

 Baleine d bee. (5) 



(1) Rondelet, under the name of peis-mular and of senedette, represents a Ceta- 

 ceous animal very similar to the Beluga ; but he does not say it is white. He 

 also applies to it the Italian name of capidolio. It would be one Delphinapterus 

 more, if the figure were not ideal; but I fear such is the case, and the more so as 

 this iiame of mular and that of capidolio belong properly to the Cachalot. Be- 

 sides this, the Beluga has occasioned the formation of a little white Cachalot, from 

 the circumstance of so soon losing its upper teeth. See its head, Voy. de Pallas, 

 Atl. pi. Ixxix. 



(2) The muzzle in this figure is too pointed. The White Dolphin w\\hh\i.ck. 

 extremities of Commerson must be nearly allied to it. 



(3) M. Rafinesque speaks of a Dolphin with two dorsal fins, and MM. Quoy 

 and Gaymard saw one they have named D. rhinoceros, Voy. de Freycinet, II, f. 1 ; 

 but they saw it at a distance, and half merged in the waves, so that there may 

 have been some optical illusion. 



(4) Hyperoodon, teeth in the palate. 



(5) This animal, described by Baussard, Jour, de Phys. March 1789, {Belph. 

 edentulus, Schr. ) to which Bonnaterre has transferred the name of huts-kopf, which 



Vol. I 2 B 



