BEAKED WHALE. 279 



able amount of o'l, these Whales are now hunted to a large 

 extent. Although their ordinary colour is, as stated above, 

 blackish, in very old males it frequently fades to a yellowish 

 hue; those of intermedi.ite age b:ing light brown. Frequently 

 the adult males separate themselves from the rest of the 

 "school," to lead a more or less solitary existence. 



THE BEAKED WHALES. GENUS MESOPLODON. 



Mesoplodon^ Gervais, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 3, vol. xiv. p. 16 

 (1850). 



The Beaked Whales of this genus present the following 

 characteristics. Head produced into a long beak, sup[:orted 

 in the upper jaw by an el ngated solid mass of ivory-like 

 bone ; a single pointed and compressed tooth at each side of 

 the lower jaw, generally situated at some distance behind the 

 anterior extremity, and in one species attaining such an extra- 

 ordinary development as to prevent the two jaws being opened 

 to their full extent. 



The genus is represented by a considerable number of 

 species, which are mainly characteristic of the warmer, and 

 especially the southern, seas, only one of them occasionally 

 visiting cur shores. 



SOWERBY'S whale. MESOPLODON BIDEXS. 



Fhyseter bidens, S:.werby, Brit. IMiscell. p. i (1804). 

 Delphinus {Heferodon) sowerhiensis^ Blainville, Nouv. Diet. 



d'Hist. Nat. vol. ix. p. 177 (1817). 

 Delphinus sowerbyi^ Desmarest, Mammalogie, p. 521 (1822). 

 He/erodon soivcrhyi, Lesson, Man. Mamm. p. 419 (1827). 

 Diodon sowerbi, Hamilton, in Jardine's Naturalist's Library 



Mamm. vol. viii. p. 192 (1839). 

 Diodon sowerbcB^ Bell, British Quadrupeds, p. 497 (1837). 



