7. OKCA. 281 



When it comes to the siirfacc to respire it remains, like the porpoise, 

 but for an instant, and then dives, describing however in its course 

 a mucli ■v\'ider arch." — Flem. B. A. 34. 



Lilljeborg has two species : one he calls " Grampus c/ladiator, 

 Lacopede," which he describes as having twelve pairs of ribs, a 

 white spot on the neck, and a very high dorsal fin ; and the other, 

 " G. Orca, Schlegel," with only eleven pairs of ribs, no white spot on 

 the neck, and a moderately high dorsjil fin. The former is evidently 

 tlie Orca i/ladiator of the English zoologists ; the other is probably 

 a distinct species ; but it cannot be the DelpTunus Orca of 8chlegel 

 ( Abliandlungen, ii. p. 2. t. 7 tt 8), as that species has a distinct white 

 spot on the side of the neck and a high dorsal fin, and well repre- 

 sents the D. Orca of our coast, and the skeletons of the English 

 specimens wliich I have been able to examine have only eleven pairs 

 of ril)s. 



The accuracy of the following habitats has been authenticated by 

 the examination of the specimens or bones : — Greenwich {Hunter) ; 

 skull Mus. CoU. Surg. n. 2515. Coast of Essex ; skuU in British 

 Museum. "Weymouth {li. Pcarce) ; skeleton in British Museum. 

 \jyi\n Harbour, 19th Nov. 1830; skuU in Mr. Bell's museum (see 

 Loudon's Mag. N. Hist. iv. 329, figure far too short). A school of 

 ten in the Pan-ett, near Bridgewater, 24th March 1 864 {J. Clarl), 

 varjing from 1 1 to 22 feet long. Young specimen in the Thames at 

 Gi'cenwich, 1793 {Banhs, in Pennant), length 31 feet; skeleton in 

 British Museum and Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 Ostcnd, adult male, and female of two years ; adult skeleton, Mus. 

 Louvain. Holland, 1841, 16 feet long; skeleton, Mus. Leydcn. 



The Orca (jladlator has been twice captured in the Mechterranean. 

 One Avas taken about tweiity years ago at Cette ; its dental formula 

 was |i-: another came ashore at Elne, Pyrenees orientales, in 1857, 

 but the fragment of the lower jaw, which is preserved, contains ten 

 teeth, so that M. Gervais does not feel sure of its being the same 

 species as the Cette specimen. It is also impossible to say whether 

 it may be identical with the DcJphinus Feres. — Gervais, Ann. 4'' Alag. 

 M. 11. 1865, XV. 75. M. Gervais, in the ' Zool. et Paloont. Fran^.,' 

 figures the skull of D. Orca from Cette. 



I)elj>hinus Orca (Linn. S. Nat. i. 108) is evidently fi-om Orca, Belon, 

 Poiss. 18, liund. Pise. 433, fig., copied by Gesner, Aquat. 748. In 

 the 'Mantissa,' ii. 523, the reference to the Schwerdtjische of Ander- 

 son and some other whalers is added, and probably from them is 

 taken the following note: — '' Bellum gerit cimi Plioeis, quas ope 

 gladii dorsalis e lapidibus detrudit ; Balamarum Phocarunnjue ty- 

 rannus, quas turmatim adgreditur. Pinna doi-salis est spina ensi- 

 forniis, sexpedalis, cute vestita, basi latior." (Mant. ii. 523.) Bon- 

 naterre gave the name of Ddjihintis (jladiator to Anderson's figure, 

 which represents the dorsal fin as situated near tlie nape. 



Cuvier believed that the Orca of the ancients was probably a 

 Cachalot, and tliat the Killer is the Aries marinas of Pliny, YEhan, 

 and the Latins, M-ho comi)ared the wliite streak behind the eye to a 

 horn. Desmarest (Mamra. 515) confines the name Defphinus Orca 



