254 CETACEA 



in the air to turn round their heads and look about them, taking 

 the water head first, and not falling helplessly into it sideways like 

 the larger whales. The full-grown whale is 30 feet long by 20 

 feet in circumference, and yields two tons of oil besides two hundred- 

 weight of spermaceti. . . . Their ordinary food consists of a bluish- 

 white cuttle-fish, six inches long by three inches in circumference, 

 and pointed towards the tail. . . . They evidently have a great 

 depth to go to find them, judging from the length of time that 

 they remain away, and from the long heavy blasts they make on 

 coming to the surface again." 



Periotic bones of Hyperoodon are found in the Red Crag of 

 Suffolk, presenting no character by which they can be specifically 

 distinguished from those of the common existing species. 



Ziphius. 1 A single conical tooth of moderate size on each side 

 of the mandible close to the anterior extremity, and directed 

 forwards and upwards. Skull with the premaxillae immediately in 

 front of, and at the sides of the nares expanded, hollowed, and with 

 elevated lateral margins, the posterior ends rising to the vertex and 

 curving forwards, the right being considerably more developed than 

 the left ; the conjoint nasals forming a strongly pronounced sym- 

 metrical eminence at the top of the cranium, projecting forwards 

 over the nares, flat above, most prominent and rounded in the 

 middle line in front, and separated by a notch on each side from 

 the premaxillae. Anteorbital notch not distinct. Rostrum (seen 

 from above) triangular, gradually tapering from the base to the 

 apex ; upper and outer edges of maxillae 'at base of rostrum raised 

 into low roughened tuberosities. Mesethmoid cartilage densely 

 ossified in adult age, and coalescing with the surrounding bones of 

 the rostrum. Vertebrae : C 7, D 10, L 10, C 22 ; total 49. The 

 three anterior cervical vertebrae united, the rest free. 



The type of this genus is Z. cavirostris of Cuvier, founded upon 

 an imperfect skull picked up in 1804 on the Mediterranean coast 

 of France, and described and figured in the Ossemens Fossiles under 

 the impression that it was that of an extinct species. Many other 

 individuals have, however, been subsequently met with in various 

 parts of the world, from the Shetland Islands to New Zealand, all 

 referable to the same genus, if not to the same species ; although, 

 as is usual in such cases, they have mostly been described under 

 different names, the so-called genera Petrorhynchus and Epiodon 

 being probably referable to the type species. 



It is quite probable that some of the Physeteroid teeth from the 

 Crag deposits mentioned on p. 251 may be referable to Ziphius. 



Mesoplodon. 2 A much compressed and pointed tooth in each 



1 Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, 2d ed. vol. v. p. 352 (1823). 



2 Gervais, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 3, vol. xiv. p. 16 (1850). For the very com- 

 plicated synonymy of this genus, see Traits. Zool. Soc. vol. viii. p. 208. 



