Zoological Society. 197 



about half an inch above the soft parts, in which they are deeply 

 imbedded, having only a slight attachment to the maxillary bone. 

 Their number is not readily ascertained, because the whole series are 

 not always apparent ; but in two instances Mr. Bennett found 8 on 

 each side. These teeth exist in adult Whales of both sexes, and 

 though not visible externally in the young Cachalots, may be seen 

 upon the removal of the soft parts from the interior of the jaw. 



" The eye of the Cachalot is small, and placed far back on the head, 

 above and between the pectoral fin and angle of the lower jaw. Its 

 situation is chiefly marked by a raised portion of integument around 

 it. The aperture for vision does not exceed 2 inches in the longitu- 

 dinal, and 1 inch in the vertical direction. The eyelids are without 

 cilia and tarsal cartilages ; they are composed of two horizontal bands 

 of integument, each, in the example from which I describe (viz. a half- 

 grown male), two inches in depth, and connected with each other at 

 the inner and outer canthus. Between each of the eyelids and the 

 blubber exists a distinct line of separation, marked by a somewhat 

 deep groove, having a duplicature of thin membrane, serving as a 

 surface or hinge on which the lids move. At these lines of demar- 

 cation all integument partaking of the nature of fat ceases, and the 

 texture of the tarsi thus insulated is composed solely of common 

 skin and cellular and other membranes, together with a dense layer 

 of muscular fibres deposited in its centre. The conjunctiva of the lids 

 is highly vascular, injected with blood, and covered with orifices of 

 mucous ducts. At the inner canthus of the eye it forms a thick 

 duplicature, of crescentic form, constituting a rudimental third eye- 

 lid, not unlike the haw of the horse. The globe of the eye is chiefly 

 lodged in the soft parts, but little if any of its substance entering 

 the bony orbit. It is deeply set within the lids, and does not in size 

 much exceed that of an ox. Its size in an adult female was 21 inches 

 in the longitudinal, and the same in the vertical direction. The in- 

 terior or cavity was 1^ inch in each of the last-named directions, and 

 its depth frds of an inch only. 



" The globe at its greatest circumference was 7£ inches : the trans- 

 parent cornea at its transverse or broadest diameter measured 1 inch, 

 and in its vertical or narrowest Jths of an inch. The muscles of the 

 globe formed a dense mass surrounding the sheath of the optic nerve, 

 and were inserted in one continuous line over the circumference of 

 the globe at its greatest convexity. 



" The optic nerve before penetrating the sclerotic is continued to 

 some length. It does not exceed the circumference of a crow's quill, 

 but is surrounded by a dense fibrous sheath nearly 4 inches in peri- 

 meter, and which, where the nerve perforates the globe, terminates 

 on the posterior surface of the latter. Around the globe and its 

 muscles much cellular tissue and true fat are deposited. The eyeball 

 in shape is riot a perfect sphere ; its anterior and posterior surfaces 

 are flattened : that portion of the conjunctiva of the globe immediately 

 surrounding the cornea, and the only portion exposed between the 

 aperture of the lids, is of an intense black hue. It is possible this 

 dark portion may be a membrane distinct from the conjunctiva, since 

 around the extent it occupies, it terminates by an irregular margin, 



