1, ORCA. 91 



To determine this skull I have been induced to compare the skulls 

 of the genus in the British Museum, which it is very necessary to do 

 from time to time, as specimens gradually accumulate, and often 

 arrive when I am occupied on other subjects, and consequently are 

 put aside for future examination. 



In this examination I have observed that in the * Catalogue of 

 Seals and Whales ' I have confounded with the skull described under 

 the name of Orca capensis one from the North Pacific, the former 

 being the true Orca capensis, and the skull now received from the 

 Seychelles Islands being of the same species. 



The skull figured in the ' Zoology of the Erebus and Terror' under 

 the name of 0. capensis is from a specimen received from the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, to which it was presented by Capt. Delville, who said 

 he obtained it in the North Pacific (?). It is quite a diiferent species, 

 for which I propose the name of Orca pacifica. I doubt its being 

 from the North Pacific, as I believe there is a skull of the same 

 species in the Paris Museum, collected by M. Eydoux, and said to 

 have come from Chili. 



3. Orca africana. 



Orca gladiator, var. australis, Gervais, Osteogr. CH. t. 47. f. 2. 



Inhab. Algoa Bay. 



Skull much smaller, 24 inches long. 



4. Orca latirostris. B.M. 



Orca latirostris, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 76. 



Orca gladiator, Qervais, Osteogr. Get. t. 48. f. 2, 3, 



Delphinus orca, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. tab. 22. fig. 4 (skull). 



The skull very similar to that of the Cape species, but much 

 smaller ; but the beak is rather narrower, the intermaxillaries mo- 

 derately broad, slightly dilated in front. 



Inhab. North Sea. 



An adult skull from the coast of Essex (361 a), and another with- 

 out the lower jaw, are in the British Museum. 



These skulls of the smaller British, or, rather, European Orca are 

 distinguishable from those of 0. gladiator by the smaller size and 

 the broader, rounder nose — and from the skulls of the Cape-of-Good- 

 Hope species by being of a much smaller species, and having a de- 

 pressed crown of the head. 



I believe the skull figured under the name of Delphinus orca by 

 Cuvier, Oss. Foss. vol. v. tab. 22. figs. 3, 4, represents this species, 

 from the form of the beak and the narrowness of the occiput : this 

 figure has been copied by various British and other authors. 



1. Orca gladiator, var. arcticus (O. Eschrichtii), Gervais, OstSoor. Get. 

 t. 47. fig. 3. 



Inhab. Faroe Islands. 



