44 MAMMALIA CETACEA. [HYPEROODON. 



it is spirally striated from right to left, nearly straight, and tapering to 

 a round blunt point ; very rarely, in this last sex both teeth are equally 

 developed, and both exserted : blow-hole semicircular, situate directly 

 over the eyes : pectoral fins short : no dorsal fin, but instead of it an 

 irregular sharpish fatty ridge, two inches in height, extending two feet 

 and a half along the back, nearly midway between the snout and the 

 tail : tail divided by a notch into two lobes, which project laterally and 

 are somewhat pointed. Prevailing colour white, or yellowish white, with 

 dark gray or blackish spots of different degrees of intensity. 



Has only occurred hitherto in two or three instances on the British 

 shores. In the Northern seas is said to be gregarious ; each sex herding 

 separately. Feeds on sepice and other molluscous animals. 



GEN. 29. HYPEROODON, Lactp. 



70. H. bidens, Flem. (Bottle-head.) Teeth two only 

 in the fore part of the lower jaw. 



H. bidens, Flem. Brit. An. p. 36. H. Butskopf, Lactp. Cttac. p. 319. 

 Bottle-nose Whale with two teeth, Hunter in Phil. Trans. 1787. 

 pi. 19. Beaked Whale, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 59. pi. 5. f. 1. 

 Two-toothed Cachalot, Sow. Brit. Misc. pi. 1. 



DIMENS. Entire length from twenty to twenty-five feet. 



DESCRIPT. Body elongated ; greatest circumference in the region of 

 the pectoral fins : forehead high, very convex, rising suddenly from the 

 snout; this last short and depressed, terminating in a kind of beak some- 

 what similar to that of the genus Delphinus : lower jaw rather longer 

 and larger than the upper : teeth conical, and pointed ; only two, situate 

 in the fore part of the lower jaw ; sometimes altogether wanting, or not 

 appearing above the gums : palate studded with little horny eminences, 

 considered by Cuvier as rudimentary vestiges of whalebone : eyes large, 

 a little above the line of the lips : blow-hole crescent-shaped, with the 

 horns of the crescent directed towards the tail : dorsal fin placed con- 

 siderably beyond the middle of the body, but little elevated, lanceolate, 

 pointed, inclining backwards : pectorals small, oval, in the same horizon- 

 tal line with that of the mouth. Skin smooth and glossy, blackish lead- 

 colour above, whitish underneath, the two colours mixing on the sides. 



Occasionally met with on the British shores. Hunter's specimen was 

 taken in the Thames above London Bridge in 1783. Obs. This species 

 has been unnecessarily split into several by many authors : it probably 

 embraces all the following of Desmarest's " Mammalogie;" Delphinus 

 Chemnitzianus, D. Hunteri, D. edentulus, D. Hyperoodon, and D. 

 Sowerbyi. 



GEN. 30. PHYSETER, Linn. 

 (1. CATODON, Lacep.) 



71. P. macrocephalus, Shaw. (Blunt-headed Cachalot.) 

 Teeth in the lower jaw from twenty to twenty-four on 

 each side; mostly conical with obtuse summits. 



Catodon -macrocephalus arid C. Trumpo, Lacep. Cetac. pp. 165 and 

 212. C. macroceph. Flem. Brit. An. p. 39. Blunt-headed Cachalot, 

 Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 61. pi. 6. Spermaceti Whale, Alder- 

 son in Camb. Phil. Trans, vol. n. p. 253. pi. 1214. 



