114 



SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTISH SEAS. 



has a very striking effect ; over the eye there is a well-defined white spot. 

 It is a very handsome species, but there is something in its appearance which 

 seems to indicate its cruel nature. Thirteen or fourteen strong, slightly 

 curved teeth are found on either side of both jaws ; the flippers are broad 

 and oval-shaped, the dorsal fin high and falcate, particularly in the male. 



As my object is mainly that of assisting in the identification of 

 casual visitants to our shores, rather than of giving anything like a history 

 of the known British species of Cetacea, it may be desirable to mention 

 here a very remarkable form, which, although it has never been known 



Fig. 24. Pseiidorca crassidens (Owen). 



to occur in the flesh on our shores, was first made known to science from 

 an imperfect skeleton found in a semi-fossil condition beneath the peat 

 in a Lincolnshire Fen. To this Dolphin, " come back, as it were, from the 

 dead," and which forms a connecting link between the genus Orca and the 

 genera Grampus and GlobicepJialus (and which Owen had named Phoccena 

 crassidens)^ Reinhardt gives the name of Pseudorca crassidens. On the 24th 

 November, 1861, a large shoal of these dolphins made their appearance in the 



