WHALES. 213 



could not begin to grow witliout a foundation of land, accessible either above or below water. The 

 total and constant absence of all life at any particidar sjiot appears to me, therefore, to furnish a 

 presumption that there has never been dry land or shallow water there. Whether the continu- 

 ance of deep water in one spot for some interminably long time might not have the same effect 

 is another question, which, whatever way it may be answered, would not affect my explanation 

 of the cause of the absence of the Sperm AVliale from such spots. 



Eemains of an extinct species of Physeter (P. antiquus) have been found in pliocene 

 beds in the south of France. 



Dolphins. (Maps 56 and 57.) — The common Grampus tumbles through the heavy waves all the 

 way from Britain to Japan, via the North-west passage. It is common both in the North Atlantic and 

 the North Pacific. The other species allied to it are chiefly northern, one from the Cape, and one 

 from Japan being all that are knowTi to come from any other district than the North Atlantic. 



The Bottle -nosed ^^Tiales and Dolphins are more equally distributed, or better known, more 

 than a dozen being known in the North seas, and from fifteen to twenty from other parts of the 

 world. The common Dolphin is found in all the seas of the Northern hemisphere, and fossil in 

 sandy downs on the coast of France and at Montpelier. New Holland and the Indian Archipelago 

 furnish each four ; the Cape, two ; Madagascar, one ; the southern coasts of South America from 

 La Plata to Chili, three ; and the Red Sea, one. 



The Beluga, or White Wliale, is found in the north of the Atlantic, from the mouth of the 

 St. Lawrence to Spitzbergen, also at Bhering's Straits, and probably all round the Polar circle. 

 It is possible that a cai'eful examination by competent authorities may discover that more than 

 one species exists in these regions. Mr. Newton mentions that those he had seen in the Gidf of 

 St. Lawrence had a tallowy appearance, while those of Spitzbergen had the clear, semi-transparent 

 hue of spermaceti ; and I have been informed by those who have seen them at Bhering's Straits 

 that there they have the colour of a leaden sjjoon. 



MoxoDON MONOCEROS. — The Narwhal is peculiar to the Polar Seas, although three specimens 

 are recorded as having wandered to, and been captured on, the shores of Britain. The Greenland 

 seas, and the seas around Sijitzbergen and Nova Zembla, as far east as New Siberia, are well known 

 as haunts of this animal. It is also found in the seas about Bhering's Straits. 



Platanista, &c. There are some instances of a notable deviation from their normal character 

 in this marine family, — viz. three river, that is, fresh-water species: one, Inia Amazoxica, about 

 seven feet long, which inhabits the river Amazon and its larger tributaries, up to the Andes. 

 In the Old World thei-e are two Indian species, one peculiar to the Ganges, — Platanista Gax- 

 GETiCA, and another allied species, P. Indi, from the Indus. These animals are also about seven feet 

 long, and have a long, sword-shaped snout, compressed laterally. Their eyes are so small that on a 

 superficial view they might be supposed to be entirely blind. The blow-hole has a form quite 

 imusual among Cetaceans. But it is not only on account of their personal peculiarities that these 

 animals are interesting ; both the Old and the New-world species have special independent points for 

 interesting inquiry. 



As to the two Indian species, the question is. How each should occur in a river which has now 

 no communication with the other, and which empties itself into the sea on the opposite sides of the 

 Peninsida. This is the only case of the kind which we have yet met with, nor do I remember 

 any similar fact recorded of any other mammals. There is, indeed, a certain similaritv in the 



