212 CATODONTIDiE, 



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

 text, at once set this at rest, the dri^wing being yV 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 Willughby's figure of the 

 Sperm Whale. 



Sibbald describes the comparatively smaU triangular dorsal to be 

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

 jyinna 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. macrocepludas (Linn.) as the true 

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

 specimen, says, *■' spinam dorso longam" as correctly quoted by 

 Artedi and Linnoeus, but used by them in opposition to the altissima 

 of their other species. 



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

 but very recog^lizable figure of a male specimen of this genus, which 

 was thrown ashore at Nice, on the 10th of Nov, 173G, where it is 

 called Millar, He compared it with Clusius's description of the 

 Spei'm 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 agrees in aU points 

 Avith the whale noticed by Ray (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 efiet 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 (juinea, 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 franclie (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, 



Bealc (History of Sperm Whale, 11) observes, "Others of the 

 whale tribe have dorsal fins while they possess the cylindi-ical jaw 

 (like the Sperm Whale), as the Blach-Jisli, 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 Olohiocephalus macro rliynchns, which, according to Bennett, 

 Nunn, and others, is called the Blaclc-fisJi by South-Sea whalers, 



1. Physeter Tursio. The Black-Jish. 



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 GO feet. 



