BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE. 



277 



Delphinus diodon, Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Cetaces, p. 309 



(1804). 

 Hyperoodon biitzkopf, Lacepbde, op. cit, p. 349 ; Bell, British 



Quadrupeds, p. 492 (1837); Gray, Cat. Seals and 



Whales Brit Mus. p. 330 (1866). 

 Hyperoodo7i latifrons, Gray, Zool. Voy. Erebus and Terror, 



p. 27 (1846); Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 425 



(1874). 

 Hyperoodo7t rostratum^ Gray, Cat. Cetac. Brit. Mus. p. 64 



(1850). 

 Hyperoodon rostratus. Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 



421 (1874); Southwell, British Seals and Whales p. 



1 01 (1881); Flower, List Cetacea Brit. Mus. p. 9 



(1885). 



Characters — In this, the only well-defined, species, the 

 general colour of the upper-parts is nearly black, while the 

 under surface is greyish-black. Length of adult males 30 feet, 

 of females 24 feet, or less. 



Great variation obtains in the form of the head and skull 

 according to age and sex ; old males having the crests on the 

 upper jaws greatly developed, and rising high above the beak ; 

 while in the young of the same sex, as in females at all ages, 

 they are much smaller. It was on the evidence of one of 

 these aged males that the so called H. laiifrons was named. 



Distribution. — The Bottle-nosed Whale (which must not be 

 confounded with the Bottle-nosed Dolphin) is a common 

 species in the North Atlantic, ranging in summer as far north 

 as Spitsbergen, while during the winter it seeks warmer 

 quarters in more southern seas. In Britain this species is of 

 very common occurrence, especially in the spring and autumn, 

 being met with off the Shetlands in considerable numbers at 

 the former season while on its northward migration. Being 



