254 MaAmMALIA OF INDIA. 
head of Globicephalus with the body of Delphinus. Dr.- Anderson, 
however, points out further differences than the external ones I have 
above alluded to. Ovca, he says,is distinguished by a “ more power- 
fully built skeleton, with considerably fewer vertebrze, there being only a 
maximum of fifty-three in it to a maximum ‘of sixty-three in Orcella.” 
In Orca generally four or five cervical vertebrae are ankylosed as in the 
cachelots, but in the two species of Ovcel/a only the atlas and axis are 
joined. “In the killers and ca’ing whales the ribs are transferred to the 
transverse processes at the seventh dorsal, whilst in Orce//a the transfer- 
ence does not take place until the eighth.” The skull resembles that of 
Orca in the breadth of the upper jaw being produced by the maxillaries, 
whereas in Globicephalus this effect is caused by the premaxillaries. 
The teeth resemble the killer’s. 
As I have said so much about the killer whale, I may digress a little 
to explain what it is, though it is not a denizen of the Indian seas, _It is 
to the Cetacea what the shark is to fishes—a voracious tyrant with ‘a 
capacious mouth, armed with formidable teeth. It hesitates not to 
attack the largest sperm and Greenland whales, and the smaller whales, 
porpoises and seals will spring out of water and strand themselves on 
shore in terror at its approach. It ranges from twenty to thirty feet in 
length, and is of so gluttonous a character that in one recorded case 
a killer had been found choked in the attempt to swallow a fifteenth 
seal, the other fourteen, with thirteen porpoises, being found in its 
stomach ! 
According to Scammon three or four of them do not hesitate to 
grapple with the largest baleen whale; and, as described by Dr. 
Murie, “the latter often, paralysed through fear, lie helpless and at their 
mercy. The killers, like a pack of hounds, cluster about the animal’s 
head, breach over it, seize it by the lips, and haul the bleeding monster 
under water ; and, should the victim open its mouth, they eat its tongue.” 
In one instance he relates that a Californian grey whale and the 
young one were assaulted; the Orcas killed the latter, and sprang on 
the mother, tearing away large pieces of flesh, which they greedily 
devoured. 
“These brutes have been known to attack a white-painted herring 
boat, mistaking it for a beluga; and it is stated that occasionally they 
will boldly lay siege to whales killed by the whalers, almost dragging 
them perforce under water. Near some of the Pacific sealing grounds 
they continually swim about, and swoop off the unwary young; even 
the large male sea-lions hastily retreat ashore and give these monsters a 
wide berth. The walrus also, with his powerful tusks, cannot keep 
_ the killers at bay, especially if young morses are in the herd. The cubs 
on such occasions will mount upon the mother’s back for refuge, 
clinging for dear life, but the Ovca, diving, comes suddenly up with a 
