10. PHOC^NA. 303 



Mr. Knox (Cat. Prep. Whales, p. 32, 1838) gives the particulars of 

 two skeletons of female specimens : — 1. Of a gravid female taken in 

 the Firth of Forth, 56 inches long and 34 inches in circumference. 

 Teeth -||- . ||^. Vertebrae 65 : cervical 7, dorsal and ribs 13, pos- 

 terior 45. V-shaped bones commencing between the thirty-fourth 

 and thirty-fifth vertebrae. Length of base of cranium 11, of spinal 

 column 42 inches=53. Weight of cranium 1 lb. 1 oz., of trunk and 

 extremities 2 lb. 15 oz. = 4 lb. 



2. Of a female, 74 inches long, killed in the Thames : has coracoid 

 clavicles. It also differs from the preceding in the following par- 

 ticulars : — There are only twelve ribs on each side (24) ; the vertebrae 

 towards the caudal extremity are much more slender and delicate, 

 while the transverse and spinous processes of the dorsal and lumbar 

 vertebrae are much broader and stronger. The cranium is considerably 

 smaller and narrower ; the elevation of the occipital bone less, but 

 more rounded ; condyles of the occipital bone greatly less. Yet the 

 weight of both skeletons is nearly equal. There are only 64 ver- 

 tebrae, but the last is evidently wanting, and has been lost (Kno.v, 

 p. 32). A foetus was taken from the uterus of the female porpoise 

 whose skeleton, from the Firth of Forth, No. 1, is above referred to ; 

 it measured, from snout to centre of tail, 26 inches ; circumference 

 16 inches. Its great bulk, considering the size of the parent por- 

 poise (56 inches), is remarkable, and renders the siipposition that 

 the porpoise does not suckle her young extremely probable. — Knox, 

 p. 34, n. 104. 



In the former edition of this Catalogue I observed, which has now 

 been proved to be the case, " This difference in the skeleton shows 

 the probability of there being two species confounded on our shores, 

 or else that there are great variations in the bones of this animal 

 oven of the same sex." 



In the figure of the skxiU in Bell's ' British Mammalia,' p. 476, 

 the teeth are represented as conical and acute, instead of broad, 

 truncate, and compressed at the tips. 



" A porpoise was taken by some fishermen in Cornwall and placed 

 in a pond at a farm, where it lived a month." — Couch. 



" The Sniffer of the Cornish fishermen. It is sometimes caught in 

 drift-nets ; and I have known it take a bait, though it commonly 

 proves too strong for the Hne. Rarely more than a pair is seen 

 together." — Couch, Cornish Fauna, 4. 



" The rolling motion of this and some other of the smaller Cetacea 

 is caused by the situation of the nostrils on the anterior part of the 

 top of the head, to breathe through which the body must be placed in 

 a somewhat erect posture, from which to descend it passes through 

 a considerable portion of a circle." — Couch, Cornish Fauna, 10. 



" The Porpoise enters the Baltic by the Sound in large numbers 

 in the spring, in pursuit of the herrings, and leaves it by the Little 

 Belt in December and January." — Eschricht. 



" A season seldom passes wdthout their appearance at Greenwich 

 and Deptford, and they occasionally pass much higher up" (C. CoT- 

 lingwoocl, 1858); Battersea ((?ra?/, 1815). 



