j;S WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



The teeth are situated at a distance of about one-third of the 

 length of the jaw from the front end, near the hinder edge of 

 the mandibular symphysis. In the male they appear above 

 the gum as triangular flattened processes. The root portion 

 of the tooth is set obliquely in a deep socket in the jaw, is 

 about twice as long as the projecting apex and much roughened 

 and scored. A typical example of a tooth from a male 

 measured 3! inches in length and about 1] inches from front 

 to back. In the female the teeth are triangular in outline, 

 smaller than in the male, but similarly flattened in form. In 

 a typical female specimen 15 feet 6 inches long each tooth was 

 if inches in height, if inches along its posterior border, and 

 2\ inches along the anterior border. Small vestigial teeth are 

 sometimes concealed in the tissues of the gum. 



Sowerby's Whale is a North Atlantic species, known from 

 both eastern and western shores of that ocean. It has been 

 recorded from Nantucket Island and Massachusetts in America, 

 and from the coasts of Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, 

 Germany and Scandinavia on the European side. British 

 records of the species total about 22 since the beginning of 

 last centurv, when the specimen from which the species was 

 originally described was cast up on the shore of the Moray 

 Firth. Beddard in 'A Book of Whales ' mentions a Sowerby's 

 Whale captured at Havre in 182S and kept alive for two days 

 out of water : " It was offered ' soaked bread and other 

 alimentary substances ' ! 'It emitted a low cavernous sound 

 like the lowing of a cow.' " 



Two foetal specimens are recorded, the one 5 feet 2 inches in 

 length, from an animal stranded December 18th, 1892, and the 

 other 3 feet n J inches in length, from a female stranded 

 February 3rd, 1926. It would appear from these records that 

 one calf is normally produced at a time. The difference in the 

 size of the foetuses indicates no very restricted period of pairing. 



Mesoplodon europams is a very rare species, only three 

 specimens being known, one found floating in the English 

 Channel and the other two from the New Jersey coast of 

 America. In many respects like Sowerby's Whale, this species 

 is larger in size, growing to 22 feet in length. A feature which 

 distinguishes M. europceus from M. bidens is the position of the 

 teeth in front of the hinder edge of the mandibular symphysis. 



