206 



CATOBONTID.^. 



Dr. Jackson gives a comparison of the measurements and teeth of 

 nine lower jaws of the Sperm Whale, taken on the coast of North 

 America, which he had examined. — Boston Journ. N.H. 1845, v. 152. 



1. Length 16| feet. Teeth 25 .24, moveable, rather ii-regular. 



2. Length 15^ feet. Teeth 25 . 27, opposite in front, behind 

 irregular, hinder smallest and worn. Width at condyles 5|. 



3. Length 8| feet. Teeth 20 . 20, regulaiij opposite, and very 

 little worn, the front largest, middle most slender, hinder smallest. 

 Width at condyles 3f . 



4. Length 7f feet. Teeth 26 . 23. 



5. Length 5f feet. Teeth 23 . 22, but connected in animal 18 

 feet long. Width at condyles 2|. 



6. Length 5^- feet. Teeth 25 . 24, all pointed, and some hardly 

 cut the jaw. Cranium 6| feet long ; the petrose portion instead of 

 being free, as usual in the Cetaceans, is as closely connected with the 

 base of the skuU as any other bone. Width at condyles 5^. 



7. Length 15| feet. Teeth 26 . 25. Width at condyles 5yL- 



8. Length 7^ feet. Teeth 24 . 24. Width at condyles 3|. 



9. Length 8^ feet. Teeth 23 . 23. Width at condyles 4^. 



A very young Spermaceti Whale, taken near New Bedford, Massa- 

 chusetts, 29th March 1842, weighed 3053 lbs. Entire length 16 feet, 

 to rudimentary dorsal 9 feet, to anterior fin 4 feet, to vent 10^ feet, 

 to eye 3^ feet, to angle of mouth 2^ feet. Circumference 9 feet. 

 Teeth of lower jaw not yet cut. 



The young is quite black, remarkably smooth and elastic, like 

 India rubber ; from a line with the anterior extremity of the head 

 to the top of the tail 16 feet, to the rudimentary dorsal fin 9 feet, to 

 the anterior fin about 4 feet, to the vent 10 feet 2 inches, to the eyes 

 3 feet 2 inches, to the external orifice of ears (which was about the 

 size of a goose-quill) 3 feet 8 inches, to the angle of the mouth 2 feet 

 10 inches ; vertical diameter of the head, just in front of the opening 

 of the mouth, 2 feet 10 inches, of the largest part of the body 3 feet ; 

 anterior fin 18 inches long and 9 inches wide. The dorsal fin or 

 hump forms a very obtuse angle, and is ill-defined, being ab.out 

 10 inches in length and 2 or 3 inches in height ; there beinr/ also 

 between it and the caudal two or three quite small Jinlets. Span of 

 tail 1 foot 7 inches, and 4 inches wide midway. Lower jaw to 

 angle of mouth 1 foot 8 inches ; right eye 1 1 inch long. Circum- 

 ference of the body 9 feet. — Jackson, Boston Journ. N. H. v. 139. 



2. Catodon austraUs. The Australian Sperm Whale. 



. Vertebrae 49. Cervical atlas free, rest very thin and anchylosed 

 together. 



Catodon australis, W. S. MacLeay, New S^jerm Whale, set iip by W. S. 



Wall, 8vo, 1. 1 (skeleton), 1851. 

 Sperm Wliale, Bcale. 



Inhab. South Seas. 



" The head is very thick and blunt in front, and is about one-third 

 of the whole length of the animal ; at its junction with the body is 



