BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 133 



« Surfman T. N. Sundlin (No. 5) found the fish. All of the labor 

 has been done free of cost. 



" I am au old sailor, and have been in nearly every sea, excepting 

 the Arctic Ocean and the Red Sea. I am well acquainted with fish, but 

 have never seen a bone-shark on this coast, though there may be some. 

 But I have caught in my bluefish nets hundreds of switch-tails and man- 

 eaters, as the sailors call them." 



The specimen which we owe to the enterprise of Mr. Hobbs and his 

 crew is about 9 feet in length, and appeared to be adult but not old. 

 The skin as he states was badly abraded, and hence it was impossible to 

 determine its original color. Two characters of the specimen attracted 

 my special attention. In the upper jaw near the anterior end were 

 four slender curved teeth, similar to those of the lower jaw, but smaller. 

 These did not occur in the female previously received, but two teeth 

 were said to be found in a similar position in a specimen from India, 

 described by^ir Richard Owen* under the name of Utqjhysetes simus. 



On accouut of the presence of teeth in the upper jaw, and in con- 

 sideration of the presence of some other apparently important charac- 

 ters, Dr. Gill erected a separate genus, Callignatlms, for the specimen 

 in question, t 



After an examination of the type specimens and study of the litera- 

 ture, however, I am inclined to agree with Professor Flower that the 

 specimens thus far acquired represent but a single species which is 

 probably cosmopolitan in range. 



The second character which attracted my attention upon making a 

 preliminary examination of the specimen was the peculiar position of 

 the genital opening. This orifice is situated anterior to the line of the 

 front margin of the dorsal fin, while in the dolphins I have examined 

 it is almost as near the vent as the same opening in the female. 



The stomach contained only the beaks and eyes of cuttle-fish and a 

 great quantity of nematoid worms. A large number of larval cestoid 

 worms, apparently of the genus Phyllobothrium, were found encysted 

 in the integuments of the back, especially about the dorsal fin. 



It is my intention to publish a somewhat extended account of the 

 genus Kogia as soon as circumstances permit. A considerable number 

 of specimens of the genus have been accumulated in different parts of 

 the world. It appears to be somewhat common about Australia. The 

 type-specimen described by De Blainville is in the Museum d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, Paris. The National Museum possesses, in addition to the 

 male and female mentioned above, a foetus, and a mandible from Ma- 

 zatlan (type of K. Floiceri). 



United States National Museum, January 19, 1885. 



"Trans. Z5ol. Soc, London, vi, 1866, pp. 87-116. 

 tAmer. Naturalist, iv, 1871, p. 16. 



