24 Palmer Notes on Three Genera of Dolphins. 



proves to have been originally proposed by Wagler in 1830* to 

 include two ziphioid whales, Delphinus bidentatus Hunter and 

 D. demnan-ttii Ivisso. Orca is therefore untenable for the genus 

 to which it is generally applied, unless it can be shown that it 

 was so used prior to 1830. It becomes incumbent on those 

 who wish to preserve Orca, to show that it was originally ap 

 plied to the killers, otherwise the earliest available name seems 

 to be Orcinus of Fitzinger,t and the common species will stand 

 Orcinus orca (Linn.). 



Tursio is one of the unfortunate names which have been 

 given to several different groups. It was applied by Gray, in 

 1843, to the group of dolphins of which Delphinu? tursio is the 

 type, but afterwards when it was discovered that Wagler had 

 previously used Tu-rxio for Delphinus peronii Lacepede of the 

 southern seas, it was transferred to this group, while Gray's 

 Tursio was renamed r l\irsiops by Gervais. Tursio proves to have 

 been used still earlier by Fleming, in 1822, J for a group 01 

 sperm whales, including T. vulgaris and T. microps (= Physeter 

 microps Linn.). These species are not now recognized, and it is 

 doubtful whether any such species exist, but this does not alter 

 the fact that Fleming applied, or intended to apply, the name 

 to a genus of- I'hyseteridse, thereby precluding its use in any 

 other group. Both Orca and Tursio as originally used are ap 

 parently synonyms of other genera and therefore drop out of 

 use. The genus to which Tursio has been applied by True and 

 other recent authors has for its type Dolphinus peronii and has 

 received no less than four distinct names : Tursio Wagler, 1830, 

 Lissodelphis Gloger, 1841, Delphinapterus Gray, 1846, and Leuco- 

 rhamphus Lilljeborg, 1861. Tursio and Delphinapterus are both 

 preoccupied, and Leucorhamphus is simply a new name for 

 Delphinapterus. Lissodelphis seems to be the first available 

 name for the genus, and the species therefore becomes Lissodel 

 phis peronii (Lacepede). 



* Nat. Syst. d. Amphibien, p. 34, 1830. 



t Wiss.-Populiire Naturgesch. Suugethiere, VI, pp. 204-217, 1860. 



J Philosophy of Zoology, II, p. 211, 1822. 



\ Gloger, Hand-u. Hilfabuch d. Naturgeschichte, p. 169, 1841. 



