210 



CATODONTID^. 



The South-Sea Sperm Whale. 



Physeter polycvphus, Qnoi/ ii- Gaim. Zool. JJran. Mamm. t. 12, cop. 



itcicheiih. Ci'iac. 5. t. 5. f. 13. 

 Physeter aiistralis asiaticus, Desmoulins, Diet. Class. H. N. ii. 618 ; 



Fischer, Si/n. 518, from Quoy. 

 Catodon polyscj'plius, Lesson, Mamm. 422. 

 Cachalot, or Sperm Whale, Bennett, ^Vhalimj Voyage, ii. 153, fig. 



Inhab. Molucca. 



Only described and figured from a drawing by an English sea 

 captain. 



The humps on the hinder part of the back, from which MM. Quoy 

 and Gaimard name the^ Molucca Sperm Whale, do not appear, by 

 the account of Dr. Jackson and Mr. Couch, to be a peculiarity of that 

 animal. 



Under the name Physeter ijolycyphus, the Humped Bloiver, Mr. 

 Couch, in his ' Cornish Fauna,' obseiTes : — " A specimen like the 

 figure of the above in Gaimard, ran itself on shore in pursuit of 

 small fish several j^ears since ; another was seen and minutely de- 

 scribed to me by an intelligent fisherman ; but it would appear that 

 the number of humps on the back is variable. It is probably the 

 Bcdcena monstrosa, Euysch, Theat. Anim. i. t. 41." — Couch, Cornish 

 Fauna, 9. It is curious that the same form should be observed in 

 the Northern and Southern oceans. 



" The Si^ermaceti Whale is not uncommon in the latitudes of New 

 Zealand, and often falls a prey to the whale ships which cmise in 

 the open sea ; but it does not approach the shallow coast or inlets, 

 as its habits are diflerent from those of the Black Whale. One 

 driven on shore at Te-awa-iti gave about 2 tuns of oQ." — Dieffenbach, 

 New Zealand, i. 42. 



n. Headdejn'essed, broad, rounded iti front. Blower on the hack of the 

 forehead. Dorsalfn cotnpressed, falcate. 



2. PHYSETER. 



"Head rounded, very large, in the adult about one-fourth the entire 

 length of animal, oblong, rather compressed ; eyes small, on the sides 

 behind the blower, convex above; upper jaw longest; the blowers 

 on the middle of the top of the head, separate, covered with one flap ; 

 pectoral fin moderate, triangular ? ; dorsal fin high, falcate ; teeth 

 conical, compressed ; the male organ under the firout edge of the 

 dorsal, and the vent nearly under its hinder edge." — Sihbald. 



Physeter, sp., Linn.; Artedi; Illiger, Prodr. 14.3, 1811; Gratf, Zool. 



E. Sf T. ; Cat. Cetac. B. M. 5-3 ; P. Z. S. 1863 ; 1864, 234. ' 

 Physeter, Rajin. Anal. Nat. 1815, 60. 

 Tursio, Fleming, Phil. Zool. 211, 1822 (P. microps). 

 Cetus (Ruckenfinne), Oken, Lehrh. Nat. 676. 

 ? Orthodon, Rajin. Anal. Nut. 60, 1815 (no char, nor tj'pe). 

 Physeteres, Lacep. ; F. Cur. D. S. N. lix. 318. 



We only know this genus by the description and figure of Sibbald. 



