Prof. Eschricht on the Gangetic Dolphin. 165 



quite concealed within the gums ; afterwards little by little to- 

 wards the base of the germ^ after the apex has already pierced the 

 gums, and at length round the broad inferior part of the germ, 

 after the apex has long since been worn out. In this manner, 

 then, the animal became at length correctly placed in the sy- 

 stem ; its locality and form were known from Lebeck's and Rox- 

 burgh's accounts ; and the changes in its teeth by age were like- 

 wise known ; the name given by Lebeck was retained, and Shaw's 

 (not to mention Blainville's) was given up*. But it was further 

 reserved for Cuvier to prove, that the Gangetic sort was not only 

 decidedly a very distinct member of the large group of dolphins, 

 but the most peculiar species of all, and most deserving perhaps 

 of constituting a separate genus f. He was aided in these inves- 

 tigations, by an entire skeleton sent to him by our above-named 

 countryman Dr. Wallich ; and besides, by two stuffed individuals 

 furnished by the French travellers Diard and Duvaucel; and the 

 latter afforded likewise some data concerning the external female 

 organ (Lebeck's and Roxburgh's specimens being males), and 

 the mode of living, generally, of the animal. Of very great in- 

 terest is Cuvier's remark, that the Sousou of the Hindoos is most 

 probably the very animal which Pliny had in view in the pass- 

 sage : " in Gauge Indise Platanistas vocant, rostro delphini et 

 Cauda, magnitudine autem xv. cubitorum J." So ancient was the 

 knowledge of this large and remarkable inhabitant of the sacred 

 Ganges among the Indians ; — so far had the report of its exist- 

 ence spread in the first centuries of our sera, before at length it 

 was introduced to the acquaintance of modern zoologists ! 



The most prominent points in the skeleton are, first and 

 principally, the very characteristic vaulted bones on each of the 

 upper jaws, rising above the layer of fat before the blowholes 

 (PI. V. fig. 2) ; next, the very striking thickness of the zygomatic 

 process of the temporal bone (PI. VI. fig. 1 t') ; the extraordinary 

 narrowness of both jaws, and the corresponding length of the sym- 

 physis of the lower, like that of the Cachalot ; the small size of 

 the orbits, whereby the zygomatic bone loses entirely its long and 

 slender form, so common among dolphins ; the equally unusual 

 proportion of the palatine and pterygoid bones ; and lastly, the 

 development of the vertebrae of the neck like that in mammals 

 generally, but in opposition to what exists in all the other dol- 



* Cuvier applied subsequently the name rostratus to a new species of 

 Dolphin (from the coasts of Europe) ; but it was justly disapproved ; and 

 has yielded to the name D. bredanensis. 



t Recherches sur les Ossemens fossiles. Nouv. ed. Paris, 1824, 4to, t. v. 

 1 partie, p. 279-280, 298-300, and p. 307. pi. 22. f. 8, .9, 10. & pi. 23. f. 19. 



X Naturalis Historife lib. ix. c. 15. In Cuvier's edition of Plinii Secundi 

 Libri de Aniraalibus, Paris, 1827, 1828, 8vo, vol. ii. p. 44-46. 



