9^ THE SPERMACETI CACHALOT, 



inches long, and three in circumference at the base, 

 and are thought to become larger and more recurv- 

 ed as the animal grows. The upper jaw has as 

 many alveolar depressions as there are teeth in the 

 lower, but what is most remarkable, is, that in the 

 interstices separating these depressions, are to be 

 found about twenty small teeth, horizontally placed, 

 and raised about one-twentieth of an inch above the 

 gum. These teeth are acutely pointed, and present 

 a flat, even, and oblique surface, filling the intervals 

 separating the alveoles. This oblique surface is all 

 that is seen of them, the other parts of these teeth 

 being imbedded in the gum,* 



Species I.— The Spermaceti Cachalot, 



Physeter Macrocephalus. 



Le Grand Cachalot; Boxitat. Cetol. 12. 



Cachalot Macrocephale,- Desm. Mam. 524, p. 790. 



Cachalot Macrocephale,- Lacep. Hist. Mat. des Cetaces, pi. 10, 



The spermaceti cachalot is found in greatest 

 abundance in the Pacific Ocean, where large num- 

 bers of them are annually killed by the American 

 and other whalers, for the sake of their oil and sper- 

 maceti. 



The spermaceti cachalot is gregarious, and herds 



* See Desmarest's Mammalogies Bonnaterre Cetologie^ 

 Sibbald Phalainologia nova. 



