212 CATODONTID^. 



in proportion ■with his description, though not referred to in the 

 text, at once set this at rest, the divawing being yL of the natural 

 size, that is to say, 6 feet to an inch ; and he observes that his 

 animal is longer and more slender than WiUughby's figure of the 

 Spei-m Whale. 



Sibbald describes the comparatively small triangular dorsal to be 

 erect like a " mizen mast," which Artedi and Linnaeus translate 

 pinna altissima, and cause Shaw to call it the High-finned Cachalot. 

 Dr. Fleming by mistake calls this species the Spermaceti Whale 

 (Brit. An. 38) ; and he refers to P. mucrocepTialus (Linn.) as the true 

 Sperm Whale figured by Eobertson. Sibbald, in speaking of another 

 specimen, says, " spinam dorso loiigam," as correctly quoted by 

 Artedi and Linnseus, but used by them in 02)position to the altissima 

 of their other species. 



J. Bayer (Act. Nat. Cm-. 1733, 111. 1. t. 1) gives a rather fanciful 

 but vezy recognizable figure of a male specimen of this genus, which 

 was thrown ashore at Nice, on the 10th of Nov. 1736, where it is 

 called Mul<ir. He compared it with Clusius's description of the 

 Sperm Whale which was stranded on the coast of Holland, and ob- 

 serves that it has a dorsal fin, very small pectorals, and other cha- 

 racters not noticed by Clusius ; and he says it agi-ees in aU points 

 with the whale noticed by Eay (Syn. Pise. 14), which is extracted 

 from Sibbald as above quoted. 



F. Cuvier, overlooking the reference to Clusius and Ray, and the 

 characters, speaks thus of Bayer's figure, "EUe est en effet d'un 

 Cachalot ; mais eUe le rend de la maniere la moinsfidele." — Cetac. 267. 



Duhamel (Peches, iv. t. 9. f. 2) figured a whale from the " River 

 Gabon " in Guinea, with teeth in the lower jaw, a dorsal on the 

 hinder part of the back, and the blowers in the crown, as in this 

 genus ; but the jaws are equal, and the mouth bent up at the angles 

 to the eyes. He says it is called Grampus by the English. This 

 figure is evidently only a copy of the Baleine franche (Duhamel, ix. 

 t. 1. f. 2), with teeth in the place of the exserted baleen, and has a 

 dorsal fin added. 



There is an etching, by Van den Velde, of a " Pot Walwesk op 

 Noortwijek op Zee, 28 Dec. 1614," which I think represents this 

 species. 



Beale (History of Sperm '^Tiale, 11) observes, " Others of the 

 whale tribe have dorsal fins whale they possess the cylindrical jaw 

 (like the Sperm Whale), as the Blach-fisJi, but yet spout from the 

 forehead or top of the head, and do not produce spermaceti. It is 

 doubtful if this is not derived from Sibbald, for it can scarcely refer 

 to the Glohiocephalus macrorhynchus, which, according to Bennett, 

 Nunn, and others, is called the Black-fish by South- Sea whalers. 



1. Physeter Tursio. The Blacl--fish. 



Black. Teeth 11 to 22 on each side, conical, compressed. Head 

 nearly one-fourth, pectoral fin one-thirteenth the entire length ; the 

 length 50 to 60 feet. 



