ODOXTOCXETI. 569 



G-ulf, and Van Beneden is inclined to regard this form as distinct. 

 A skull of M. loops from Java is, however, in the Leyden Museum. 

 A whale some years since (July 1873) was entangled in the 

 telegraph-cable off the Baluchistan coast and drowned. The tail 

 was covered^ with barnacles (Cirripeds), and this, as Van Beneden 

 points out, is characteristic of Megaptera. I myself once saw a 

 whale of much stouter form than Salcenoptera, under favourable 

 circumstances, a great part of the bod y being above the sea ab 

 times, off the mouth of the Indus. Gray (Cat. Seals and Whales 



Fig. 184. Humpbacked Whale, Megaptera loops. (Flower, art, " Whale," 

 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica.') 



B. M. 1866, p. 131) refers an imperfect skeleton in the Asiatic 

 Society's collection at Calcutta to this genus, but on evidence that 

 is scarcely convincing. 



The accompanying figure of M. loops may assist in the recog- 

 nition of the genus. 



Suborder ODONTOC(ETL 



Teeth always present in one or both jaws after birth. No 

 baleen. Upper surface of skull asymmetrical. Kami of mandible 

 nearly straight, meeting distally in a true symphysis. Several of 

 the anterior ribs articulate with the bodies of the vertebra, and 

 several pairs are connected with the sternum by sternal ribs. 

 Manus always pentadactylous. Nostrils united into a single ex- 

 ternal orifice. No caecum, except in Platanista. 



Three families compose this suborder ; all are found in Indian 

 seas or rivers. They are distinguished as follows : 



A. Functional teeth in the lower jaw only Physeteridae. 



B. Functional teeth in both jaws (upper teeth deci- 



duous in Grampm}. 



a. Ribs abnormally articulated. Symphysis of man- 



dible never exceeding ^ length of ramus Delphinidae. 



b. Ribs normally articulated. Mandibular sym- 



physis i length of ramus Platanistidae. 



