H MAMMALIA, CETACEA. Delphinapteba. 



Gen. XXXIII. DELPHINAPTEIiA. BELUGA.-Back 

 destitute of a fin, but, in its place, the rudiments of a 

 ridge. 



54. D. albicans. — Snout abrupt, summits of the teeth trun- 

 cated. 



Delphinus albicans, Fab. Faun. Gr. p. 50 Dr Barclay and Mr Neill, 



Wern. Mem. iii. 371. tab. xvii — Scoresby, Arct. Reg. i. p. 500. tab. xiv. 

 Rarely a visitant of the British seas. 



The length of the beluga is from 12 to 18 feet. The jaws are equal. The 

 teeth are nine on each side, in each jaw ; in the lower, short, obtuse, and 

 distant ; in the upper, more acute and bent. The swimmers are subovate. 

 The colour is usually white, occasionally with a tinge of red or yellow. It 

 is gregarious and frequents the arctic seas, entering large rivers like the 

 grampus. Two instances of the occurrence of this animal on our shores are 

 now on record. One was killed near Stirling in June 1815 ; and Mr Bald 

 having procured the specimen, it was submitted to Mr Neill and Dr Barclay 

 for inspection, the former of whom has given an account of its external cha- 

 racters, the latter of its structure. The length of this individual was 13^ feet, 

 its greatest circumference 8 feet 1 1 inches ; breadth of the tail 3 feet ; swim- 

 mers 2 feet long, and the same distance from the angle of the mouth ; gape 

 10 inches. From angle of the mouth to the eye 2| inches. From tip of the 

 upper jaw to the blow-hole 1 foot 10 inches. In the under jaw there were 

 six teeth on each side, broad and blunt ; in the upper jaw there were nine on 

 each side, but none immediately in front, the three backmost sharp, and with- 

 out any to match them in the lower jaw. It possessed four stomachs. The 

 cervical vertebrce were 7 in number, the dorsal 11, and the lumbar 13. 

 True ribs C, and the false ribs 5 in number. Sternum broad and flat. The 

 late Colonel Imrie informed Mr Neill, " that, in August 1793, he saw two 

 young belugas, which had been cast upon the beach of the Pentland Frith, 

 some miles east of Thurso. The length of the one, from the front of the 

 forehead to the tip of the tail, was 7 feet, and of the other 74- They were 

 both males." Hans Egede, in his Hist. Green. (London 17-15) p. 75. when 

 speaking of this whale, states, that " the train of his blubber is as clear as 

 the clearest oil. His flesh, as well as the fat, has no bad taste, and when it 

 is marinated with vinegar and salt, it is as well tasted as any pork whatever. 

 The fins also and the tail, pickled or sauced, are good eating. This fish is so 

 far from being shy, that whole droves are seen about the ships at sea. The 

 Greenianders catch numbers of them, of which they make grand cheer." 



b. Teeth few, and confined to one jaw. 



Gen. XXXIV. HYPEROODON— Snout produced, with 

 two teeth in the lower jaw, and the palate furnished with 

 tubercles. With a dorsal fin. 



55. H. oldens. Body reaching to the length of 25 feet. 



Bottle-head, Dale's Harwich, 411. tab. xiv. (Pennant.) — Bottle-nose, 

 Hunter, Phil. Trans. 1787, p. 373. tab. xix — Physeter bidens, Smverby, 



Brit. Misc. tab. i Pom. Brit. Zool. 2d edit. 111. p. 88 — Occasionally 



taken on the British shores. 



