THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 195 



DESCRIPTION OF A N EW EXTINCT SPECIES OF DOLPHIN ; FROM 



MARYLAND. 

 Bij R. HARLAN, M. D-, F. L. S. Land., Corresp. Member Nat. Institution. 



ORDER CETACEA. 



Genus Delpiiinus. 

 D. Calvertensis. 



This interesting fossil consists of the sliull, nearly complete, densely petrified, 

 very weighty, tinged of a deep, black, ferruginous color ; characteristic marine 

 fossil shells adhere to its base. A portion, tested with a solution of muriatic acid, 

 demonstrated the absence of animal matter. The external border of the superior 

 maxillary bone is slightly broken on each side. Its discovery is due to the active 

 researches of Mr. Francis Markoe, Jun., Corresponding Secretary of the National 

 Institution, who obtained it from the Calvert cliffs, on the right bank of the Chesa. 

 pcake bay, State of Maryland, along with other characteristic fossils. We refer, 

 with confidence, to the preceding memoir by Mr. Conrad, for the details of this 

 tertiary deposit. Many other osteological remains, of an interesting kind, have 

 recently been obtained by Mr. Markoe from the same locality. 



The present specimen belongs to Cuvier's first sub-genus, or " les Dauphins d 

 long bee" On comparison with the numerous species of living dolphins, it is found 

 distinct from all of them. It approximates the Delphmaptorus leucoramphus, of 

 Peron,* but differs in its various measurements, number of teeth, and in the arrange- 

 ment of the palatine bones. 



It is unique hitherto in America. Indications of the existence of this genus, in a 

 fossd stale, occur occasionally in the geological reports of the State of Maryland.! 



Four species of fossil Delpiiinus have been described by Cuvier, (tit supra.) 



The first consists of a nearly complete skeleton, discovered by M. Cortesi, on the 

 Appenine hills, south of Fiorenzuola. 



The second species consists of portions of the upper and lower jaws of a Del- 

 phinus, disinterred from a faluniere, (marine debris,) in the department of Landes, 

 noticed by Cavier under the name of " Dauphin a longue symphyse de la mdchoire 

 inf^rieure;" ut supra, page 312. 



Third species, also from the same locality, with marine shells, consisting of a 

 portion of the lower jaw. It is closely allied to the common dolphin, or D. 

 delphis. 



• Vide Cuvier. Ossemens Fossiles, vol. 5, part 1, page 289, plate 21, figures 5 and 6 ; edition 1S23. 



t"In an essay, On the Physical Geography of Maryland, which I furnished in 1837, to the Transac- 

 tions of the Maryland Academy, (says Dr. Ducatel, Geologist of the State of Maryland,) I took occasion 

 to say, in refrrring to the fossilliftroiis deposits of the tertiary formations of the State, that 'the most 

 constant attendants npon these marine shells are the ribsand vertebra of a species of Dcl/ihinus, the 

 palatal bones of some fish, and a great number of shark's teeth of all sizes.' In Cie same essay, alluding 

 to the living genera of marine animals that are found in the Chesapeake bay, I say, ' The largest a<iuatic 

 residents of the Chesapeake bay, at least in the pordon of it within the limits of Maryland, .-ire the por- 

 poise, (Delphinus phoccr.nn,) and the sturgeon, {Acipanser bavirostrum,) although occasionally some of 

 the smaller cetacea venture nearly all the way up in pursuit of their prey, during the spawning season of 

 the herring and shad ; several individuals of the beluga whale, (Dc/phiiws, leuras,) having been caught in 

 the spring of the last year,' &c. The skeleton of the last menaoncd is now in the Baltimore Museum." 



No. 2. 17 



