Dr. J. E. Gray on the Genus Hyperoodon. 219 



which passes over the eye. It differs also from E. pachyrhrjnchus in 

 the more lengthened and less robust form of the bill. 



For both these new species, science is indebted to Captain Abbott. 



The following papers were read : — 



On the Genus Hyperoodon : the two British kinds, and 

 THEIR Food. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., etc. 



At the preceding meeting of the Society, a letter was read from 

 the Rev. G. Beardsworth, the Vicar of Selling, on a female Whale and 

 its young, which had been caught on the coast near Whitstable, 

 Kent*. 



Through the kind agency of Mr. Beardsworth, the complete ske- 

 leton of the older, and part of the skeleton of the younger specimen 

 have been secured for the British Museum. The species is Hypero- 

 odon rostratum. It is well figured, from a drawing by Mr. Beards- 

 worth, in the 'Illustrated News' for the 18th of November, 1860. 



There has been some discussion about the form of the blow-hole 

 in this genus, — some, as Voigt and Wesmael, describing the ends of 

 the opening as pointed forwards, as in other Dolphins, while Dale, 

 Boussard and Doumel describe them as pointed backwards. Mr. 

 Beardsworth, in his description, calls the blow-hole straight ; but his 

 figure represents it as slightly crescent-shaped, with the ends pointing 

 towards the nose ; and Mr. Crotch, who has sent me a note on a 

 specimen of a female Hyperoodon which was shot near Weston-super- 

 Mare, as exactly agreeing with the specimen obtained at Kiel in 1801, 

 only that the cusps of the blow-hole are directed forwards ; and he 

 inquires, "Does the cusp of the lunate spiracle turned forward mean 

 anything ? " At any rate it appears to be the normal direction in 

 this species. 



Mr. Beardsworth observes in his note : — " I enclose you a portion 

 of the food found in the stomach. There was more than half a 

 bushel of this (which I am told is the claws of the Cuttle-fish), and 

 nothing else." 



It is not a new fact that Cetaceans, at least the Whales with 

 teeth, feed on these animals ; for the beaks of some Cephalopods 

 are found interspersed in the substance of ambergris, which is a con- 

 cretion found in the intestines or stomach of the Spermaceti Whale. 

 In this substance they are in general few in number ; but their pre- 

 sence is so universal that the druggists do not consider the amber- 

 gris true if they are not found in it, and they thus distinguish the 

 artificial substitute from the real article in the market. 



The Black Fish {Glohiocephalus macrorhyiichns) is said to have 

 the remains of Cuttle-fish in the stomach ; and Bennett, in his 

 ' Whaling Voyage,' states, " the ordinary food of the Sperm Whale 

 is the Cuttle-fish or Squad, Sepia " (p. 176). I suspect that Cuttle- 



* The person who procured the Whale is Mr. Smith. As his card shows a 

 trade in an article that is new to me, I give it entire : — " Henry Smith, Horse 

 Bridge, Whitstable, Fish Agent for Five-fingers, Mussels, and Sprats." 1 sup- 

 pose the first are Star-fishes. 



15* 



