BEAKED WHALES, FAMILY ZIPHIID^ TRUE. 35 



below, and the head black and bro\vn. The color of the young specimen from 

 Buenos Ayres, Argentina, is described by Burmeister as follows: 



All the body of the animal is of a light gray color, a little yellowish, resembling the color of light 

 ash, but much darker on the back and much lighter on the belly. The fins are much darker than the 

 back— almost black— and the large fin of the tail has a very pure white area of irregular shape on the 

 underside. 



If the indications from the skull and proportions are trustworthy Z. camrostris 

 must be a species in which the color is very variable, differing perhaps in the two 

 sexes, or with differences in age. This is, however, by no means certain at present, 

 and whether the diversities of color reported in different specimens are merely 

 individual variations, or are due to post-mortem changes, remains to be discov- 

 ered. It will be noticed that the color of the Argentme specimen is nearest to 

 that of the Barnegat City specimen. 



TYPE OF ZIPHIUS SEMIJUNCTUS (COPE). 



The type-specimen of ZipUus semijunctus (Cope), as ah-eady mentioned, is a 

 young female." The most noticeable characters which it presents are that the 

 premaxillffi are flat proxinially, and that the teeth are small, sharp-pointed and 

 open at the roots. The form of the teeth is undoubtedly due to immaturity, but 



o Cope's original description of this species was as follows: 



" Hyperodon semijunctus, sp. nov. The question whether a Hyperodon visits this side of the Atlan- 

 tic, has at length been solved by the description which I have received through Dr. Alexander Wil- 

 cocks of this city, of a species taken in Charleston Harbor. This is well drawn up by Gabriel Mani- 

 gault, who set up the specimen, which adorns the Charleston Museum. The points wherein it evidently 

 differs from its congeners, the B. bidens and latifrons, are, first, the separation of the four posterior cer- 

 vical vertebrae, the three anterior only being solidly anchylosed, instead of the seven, as in the known 

 species, even in the young, according to Dr. J. E. Gray. Second, the possession of one or more pairs 

 of ribs added to the flying series, and of two more vertebrae, including ten dorsal instead of nine. 

 (Nine are given by Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, viii, 188; and Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1864, 419, 

 for the bidens.) Five ribs are connected with the sternum, of which the anterior articulates with the 

 seventh cervical by its inferior head. 



"I extract the following from Gabr. Manigault's description: 



" 'The superior maxillary bones are quite pointed in front and widen out toward the base of the 

 snout. Their lateral edges become developed on each side into a prominent vertical ridge, which ia 

 slightly convex on the outer surface, and the reverse on the inner. These bones, after having widened 

 out upon approaching the orbits, ascend vertically along with the occipital (the two together holding 

 the frontal, which is quite perceptible, between them) and form at the back of the head a transverse 

 ridge, which is quite high and very thick. From my not knowing by what name it was known, I did 

 not satisfy myself concerning the presence of palatine tubercles. Another peculiarity of the head con- 

 sists in the lower maxillary bones being provided each at its point with a single small and very sharp 

 tooth. These were not noticed during the dissection, owing to their being too much imbedded in the 

 integuments; they are now, however, quite visible. In the cavity of the skull is a septum of bone 

 separating the cerebrum from the cerebellum (t. e., the tentorium). The first rib is very wide and 

 short, and presents a marked contrast to the others. The sternum is quite flat and wide. The pectoral 

 fins are small, and have been carefully preserved, with the various carpal and phalangeal bones kept 

 together by their natural ligaments. As the skeleton stands, the fins consist only of the scapula, the 

 humerus, the radius, and the ulna, with but few phalanges. 



" 'The length of this specimen is between twelve and thirteen feet.' " {Proc. Acad. Kat. Sci. Phila., 

 1865, p. 15.) 



