observed on the coasts of Cornwall, 435 



melaSy Fleming, Brit. An. p. 24. Phoccena melas, BelFs Brit. 

 Quad. p. 483; Gray's Catalogue of Brit. Mus. p. 87. 



The figure given by Mr. Bell, copied originally, as I think, 

 from Scoresby, is altogether unnatural ; for it is only by great 

 violence that the tail could be thrown into the posture there 

 represented. In the specimens I have closely examined, the teeth 

 in the upper jaw were loosely, yet securely, attached by a tendi- 

 nous or cartilaginous substance, and not inserted into sockets, 

 although the animals were of full growth, and with the appear- 

 ance of age. They seem to be common on our coasts ; since I 

 have known the capture of three specimens, two of which ran 

 themselves on shore. In one instance sixty, and in another 

 seventy gallons of oil were obtained. In one of them there were 

 remains of Hakes in the stomach. 



From two of these specimens I had an opportunity of taking a 

 figure at leisure ; and at that time the following notes were made, 

 in reference to Mr. Bell's figure ; — " It is far too slender — not 

 enough compressed posteriorly, nor sufficiently ridged above and 

 below at that part : the tail not characteristic ; the forehead not 

 sufficiently prominent and rounded ; the teeth too numerous and 

 prominent, and in the under jaw too projecting. I find eleven 

 in the under jaw, on each side, well worn down, with a separa- 

 tion of teeth at the symphysis.'' The men report that when one 

 of these specimens was taken, it made a great bellowing; and 

 that some species of whales are able to utter loud sounds, the 

 following instance, among others reported to me, will render 

 highly probable : — A fisherman was not far from land, early in 

 the morning, in the month of June, and a herd of porpoises, 

 probably dolphins, were at their gambols near him, when there 

 rose up, close to his boat, an individual of another sort, — as he 

 judged, about 20 feet long, and much blacker than a porpoise 

 (in this respect, as in some others, answering to the Leading 

 Whale), and it uttered a loud note, which he compared to the 

 sound of the horn then usually employed by the postman, and 

 which, for three times, as the animal rose to the surface, was 

 repeated, with a continuance of half a minute at a time. At the 

 hearing of this sound, the porpoises or dolphins hastened towards 

 it, and followed its progress to the westward for a long distance. 

 M. F. Cuvier says that this species blows or spouts water from its 

 breathing-hole in the same manner as the Physeters. 



Grampus. — Delphinus Orcc', Fleming's Brit. An. p. 34. Ph. Orca, 

 Bell's Brit. Quad. p. 477. D. gladiator j Gray's Catalogue of 

 Brit. Mus. p. 92. 

 This species is either rare, or rarely taken. One was found 



dead on the shore near the Lizard, in October 1846, a female^ 



28* 



