94 Dr. H. Burmeister on a new Cetacean. 
X.—Preliminary Account of a new Cetacean captured on the shore 
at Buenos Ayres. By Dr. Hermann BuRMEISTER*. 
[Plate III. ] 
On the 8th of August of the present year, at 9 o’clock in the 
morning, a large whale was observed by the boatmen of Sefor 
D. Juan Antonio Nufez, near the Custom-House Wharf. It 
was seen near the shore, raising itself from time to time out of 
the water and then disappearing for some moments, during which 
it spouted a stream of water with much vehemence. The men 
approached this animal in a boat and fired two shots at it, which 
appeared to take no effect; however, urged by curiosity, they 
came so near that a son of Sefior Nufiez was able to give the 
animal two stabs in the throat. On this it spouted a violent 
stream of blood, and died after struggling for two hours. 
Dragging it first to their ship, the men afterwards took it to the 
wharf, where it was landed by the steamboat-crane, put into a 
cart, and transported to the Museum, being generously presented 
to that establishment by Sefior Nunez. 
The scientific study of this animal, which I immediately com- 
menced, showed me that it belongs to a new group of the Dolphins, 
very near the genus Ziphius of Cuvier (Delphinorhynchus of 
Blainville and Dumortier), but differmg in the position of the 
large teeth of the lower jaw, placed, not in the centre of each 
side of the jaw, but at the very point, as in the genus Hyperoodont. 
The animal, belonging thus to a group intermediate between 
Hyperoodon and Ziphius, { propose should be named Ziphiorrhyn- 
chus cryptodon, placing it, in the natural classification, before 
Ziphius and after Hyperoodon. I subjoin a general description 
in order to acquaint the scientific public with its special and 
distinctive characteristics. 
Ziphiorrhynchus cryptodon, Pl. III. 
The general external form of the animal exactly resembles that 
of Ziphius ; the head not much raised in front, the belly rather 
thick, the fins small, and the snout sharply pointed; but the 
form of the tail, inclined with the point backwards, is remarkable 
and very singular for this group of Dolphins. 
The animal measures 3°95 metres in length, and 2 metres 
in circumference at the middle of the body. The snout is short, 
* Communicated by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 
+ {This animal is evidently allied to Epiodon cavirostris of the Medi- 
terranean and Petrorhynchus capensis of the Cape seas. Figures of the 
skulls of these animals have been sent to Dr. Burmeister for comparison.— 
J. E. Gray. ] 
