1. PLATANISTA. 225 



skull 20^ inches. Greatest width at zygomata 9|- inches. Depth of 

 the two jaws with teeth in situ, measured in the middle of their 

 height, 8^ inches (in F. Gangetica barely \\ inch). Length of sym- 

 physis of lower jaw 11 inches. Depth of zygomatic arch 2\ inches. 



"A coloured figure, probably the identical individual that furnished 

 the skull above described, occurs among the Burns' drawings. The 

 rostrum is represented as short in proportion to the length of the 

 animal, and the neck to be more contracted than in the Gangetic 

 species, which may be an error of the draughtsman. Colour also 

 much paler, the lower parts dull albescent, abruptly defined in a 

 line from the gape to the tail-flukes. Evidently a female. The male 

 should have a longer rostrum. Length 7 feet by l^ in depth. 

 Dorsal rudimentarj- as in P. Gangetica^ — Dlyth. 



See Keinhardt's paper in * Ann. Nat. Hist.' 1852, pp. 162, 279, & 

 291, where the Susu of the Indus is referred to as a peculiar species. 

 —Bhjth. 



The skuU brought from the Indus by Dr. David WaUich, in the 

 Museum of the Royal CoUego of Surgeons, n. 2481, named P. Gan- 

 getica, var. minor, is of " smaller size, the total length not exceeding 

 12 inches, and the anterior teeth being much longer and more 

 slender and acute. These differences may depend on the immaturity 

 of the indi\'idual, but all the parts of the occiput have coalesced, 

 and none of the sutural unions manifest any mark of immaturity. 

 There are 21 teeth on the left side of the upper jaw, and 19 teeth 

 on the right side, but the alveolar grooves extend further back, 

 indicating the former existence of teeth or germs of teeth which 

 have been lost. There are 20 teeth on each side of the lower jaw, 

 behind which is a short extent of an empty alveolar groove. The 

 teeth are placed close together; the anterior ones in the lower jaw 

 are an inch in length, slender, and sharp-pointed, with the points 

 slightly incurved and projecting outside those of the upper jaw ; 

 but the chief parts of the crowns of both the upper and under teeth 

 fit into the interspaces of those of the opposite jaw when the mouth 

 is closed. The teeth progressively diminish in length, without de- 

 crease of basal breadth, as they are placed further back.'" — Owen, I. c. 

 pp. 448 <fe 449. 



They have lately received a second skull like the preceding at the 

 College Museum, of a rather larger size. 



This skull is very unlike the Platanista Indi of Elyth, as he de- 

 scribes the teeth of that animal as twice as short as those of the 

 Gangetic Susu and much ground down. May it be the very young 

 state of it ? 



