FAMILY DELPHINIDiE. 



135 



THE GRAMPUS, 



Phoc/ena orca. 



PLATE XXXII. FIG. 1. Lower Jaw and Tooth. 



Delphinus orca. Fab. Faun. Grcenl. 



Killers. Dudley, Phil. Trans. 17)9, p. 256 ; Abridg. Vol. 7, p. 424. 



D. gladiator et orca. Lacep. Vol. 15, p. 1. Bloch, Poiss. Vol. 10, p. 93 and 96. 



Grampus. Hunter, Phil. Trans. 1787, pi. 16. 



Grand-poisson, Grapois and Grampus, of the Normans and English. 



Killer and Thrasher, of the American sailors. 



Characteristics. Upper jaw longest. Teeth conical, bent at their tips ; eleven on each side, 



above and below. 



Length 20 - 25 feet. 



Description. Body thick in proportion to its length, oval. Snout short and obtuse. Lower 

 jaw broader than the upper. Teeth unequal, varying in number with age, but usually twenty- 

 two in each jaw, and larger than in any other species of this genus. In the right side of a 

 lower jaw which I had an opportunity of examining, the teeth were four inches long, and pro- 

 jected two inches beyond the sockets ; the upper portion conical, with blunt points directed 

 inward and backward ; the lower portion just above and within the sockets, compressed trans- 

 versely, one and a half inches in diameter, in the other direction not exceeding one inch : all 

 the teeth contracted at their bases. The dorsal elevation, miscalled a fin, is placed nearly on 

 the middle of the body, pointed at the tip, and nearly four feet high. Swimming paws broad 

 and oval. Tail lunate. 



Color. Glossy black above ; white beneath, the two colors separated by a well defined but 

 irregular line. Occasionally a round or oblong patch of white above or behind the eye. 



Length, 20 - 25 feet. 



The Grampus, Finner or Black-fish Whale, under which different names it is known to our 

 fishermen, was formerly numerous on our coast, when the Right Whale was also abundant. 

 I have seen them off the coast of Long Island, on several occasions. Paul Dudley, in an 

 essay on the Natural History of Whales, in the English Philosophical Transactions, notices 

 this species as the natural enemy of the whale : " Our whalemen have given this fish the 

 " name of Killer. These killers are from twenty to thirty feet long, and have teeth in both 

 " jaws, that lock one within the other. They have a fin near the middle of the back, four or 

 " five feet long. They go in company by dozens, and will set upon a young whale, and will 

 " bait him like so many bulldogs." The grampus is doubtless a voracious animal, living 

 upon various large fish, and even seals and porpoises have been found in their stomachs ; but 

 the stories of their attacking whales in packs, will perhaps require confirmation by competent 

 authority. They are very sportive in their habits ; and perhaps a large herd of them together, 

 engaged in chasing and tumbling over each other, may have suggested to the lovers of the 

 marvellous the idea of being occupied in attacking a whale. The grampus furnishes an 

 excellent oil. 



