148 BULLETIN 31J, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



vertebrarterial canal is likewise an individual character. The variation 

 of one in the number of pairs of ribs is net considered of specific impor- 

 tance. The shortness of the muzzle in rhmodoji is doubtless due to the 

 immaturity of the specimen. The amount of expansion of the vomer and 

 palatines in the median line is a character which varies greatly with age. 

 The question of the number of teeth presents some difficulties. 1 have 

 never seen a white whale skull with so few as four or six teeth. The 

 number in twelve skulls in the Museum varies from eight to eleven. 



As regards the relative positions of the anterior extremity of the ex- 

 posed prenareal i)ortion of the maxilla and the maxillary notch it may 

 be said that in the twelve skulls mentioned above this part of the max- 

 illa appears at different i)oints from almost exactly opposite the notch 

 to a point about midway between the line of the notches and the supe- 

 rior nares. 



On the whole I am inclined to reunite all of Professor Cope's species 

 under the original name and to hold that in the Arctic seas, at least, but 

 one sijecies of white whale has been discovered. 



As regards Gray's i>. Kingii, reported to have come from New Hol- 

 land, it can only be said that considering that no white whale has been 

 observed in the South seas, and that the type skull agrees with otheis 

 from northern waters, there is strong probability that the locality given 

 by Gray is erroneous. There is a skull in the national collection from 

 Pastolik, Alaska, near the mouth of the Yukon, which agrees almost ex- 

 actly with the type of D. Kingii. In both the length of the beak is about 

 40 per cent, of that of the skull, the breadth at the notch is a third of the 

 total length, and the breadth of the intermaxillii; at the middle of the 

 beak equals the distance from the last tooth to the maxillary notch. 



Of Desmarest's DeJphinus canadensis, founded on DuhameVs Alar sou in 

 hlanc, little need be said. Duhamel states that he never has himself 

 seen this animal nor any of the other porpoises which he figures. His 

 words are : 



Entiu ou in'a euvoy6 de Canada, sous le iioiu de Marsotihi hlanc, de douze pieds dc 

 lougueur, le dessein (fig. 4), qui avait le museau trfes petit et lo front fort 61ev6.* 



In the explanation of the plates he says : 



Celiii, fig. 4, est nommo Marsouin hlanc. a cause do la couleur de sa peau ; 11 a le 

 front tres-gros.t 



All of Duhamel's figures of porpoises are very incorrect, and his rep- 

 resentation of the white whale resembles that animal perhaps as much 

 as those of the killer and the bottle-nose resemble those species. It is 

 unwise to give such obviously inaccurate figures serious consideration, 

 and it is certain that in the light of present knowledge, Desmarest would 

 not have erected a species on the Marsouin blanc. 



* Dnliauiel, Trait6 des Pesches, vol. Iv, pt. 2, sect, x, Chap, ii, 17H2, p. 41 (PI. x, 

 fig. 4). 

 t L. c, p. G4. 



