7. OKCA. 281 



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

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

 a much wider arch." — Flem. B. A. 34. 



Lilljeborg has two species : one he calls " Grampus gladiator, 

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

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

 " O. Orca, Schlegel," Avith only eleven pairs of ribs, no white spot on 

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

 the Orca gladiator of the Enghsh zoologists ; the other is probably 

 a distinct species ; but it cannot be the Delphinus Orca of Schlegel 

 (Abhandlungen, ii. p. 2. t. 7 & 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. Oral of our coast, and the skeletons of the English 

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

 of ribs. 



The accuracy of the following habitats has been authenticated by 

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

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

 Museum. Weymouth (M. Fearce) ; skeleton in British Museum. 

 Lynn Harbour, 19th Nov. 1830 ; skull in Mr. Bell's museum (see 

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

 ten in the Barrett, near Bridgewater, 24th March 18G4 (J. CJarl-), 

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

 Greenwich, 1793 {Banls, in Pennant), length 31 feet; skeleton in 

 British Museum and Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

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

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



The Orca gladiator has been twice captured in the Mediterranean. 

 One was taken about twenty years ago at Cette ; its dental formula 

 was \^ : another came ashore at Elne, Byrenees 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 Avhether 

 it may be identical Avith the Delphinus Feres. — Gervais, Ann. <^- Mag. 

 N. H. 1865, XV. 75. M. Gervais, in the ' Zool. et Baleont. Frang.,' 

 figures the skull of D. Orca from Cette. 



Delphinus Orca (Linn. S. Nat. i. 108) is CAddently from Orca, Belon, 

 Boiss. 18, Bond. Bisc. 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 foUoAving note : — " Bellum gerit cum Bhocis, quas ojic 

 gladii dorsalis e lapidibus dctrudit ; Balasnarum Bhocarumque ty- 

 rannus, quas turmatim adgreditur. Binna dorsalis est spina cnsi- 

 formis, sexpedalis, cute vestita, basi latior." {Mant. ii. 523.) Bon- 

 naterre gave the name of Delphinus gladiator to Anderson's figure, 

 which represents the dorsal fin as situated near the nape. 



Cuvier believed that the Orca of the ancients Avas probably a 

 Cachalot, and that the Killer is the Aries marinus of Bliny, ^lian, 

 and the Latins, who compared the white streak behind the ej-e to a 

 horn. Desmarest (Mamm. 515) confines the name Delphinus Orca 



