Professor Traill on some of the Cetacea. 177 



pal volcanoes in our neighbourliood. This I shall do by the first 

 opportunity, in the hope that it may not prove altogether unin- 

 teresting. I have greatly to regret the having, many years ago, 

 broken ijfy barometer in the interior, but I am in daily hopes 

 of receiving one I long since ordered from England. I am, Sir, 

 your most obedient servant, John Reid. 



On some of the Cetacea. By Professor Tjraill. Communi- 

 cated by the Author. 



It has, I believe, excited considerable surprise in this country, 

 to observe the keen discussions which have lately taken place 

 between Geoffroy St Hilaire and other French naturalists on the 

 nutrition of the Cetacea. 



British naturalists have long considered the existence of 

 mammae, the secretion of milk, and the lactation of their young, 

 as among the best established facts in the natural history of that 

 order of animals ; but it would appear that, on the recent cap- 

 ture of a considerable number of a large species of Delphinus, 

 Geoffroy St Hilaire has endeavoured to throw doubts on the 

 received opinion on this subject, on grounds chiefly derived from 

 an observation some time ago made by Ba^r, that the mammae 

 of the Cetacea were analogous to the abdominal glands of the 

 Oenithorhynchus and Echidna, two animals which, from the 

 common termination of the foecal, urinary and generative organs, 

 Geoffroy had proposed the generic name of Monotremes. This 

 assertion of Baer seems to have been the origin of the scepticism 

 of that distinguished naturalist. 



The questions which have been discussed in France are in- 

 volved in four propositions : — 



1. Have the Cetacea mammce? 



% If they have, do they secrete milk ? 



8. Have they a nipple ? And, 



4. Do the young derive their nourishment from the teats ? 



The three first have been long ascertained by various na- 

 turalists. 



The ancients appear to have had very correct notions re- 



VOL. XVI I. NO. XXXIII. JULY 1834. M 



