KILLER. 287 



female produces a single young one at a birth. Formerly the 

 flesh of the Porpoise was eaten by Roman Catholics as a 

 Lenten dish ; but at the present day it is only valued for the 

 oil yielded by its blubber. 



THE KILLERS. GENUS ORCA. 

 Orca, Gray, Zool. Voy. Erebus and Terror, p. 33 (1846). 



Beak of skull about equal in length to the remainder of the 

 same, broad and flattened above, and rounded in front ; about 

 twelve pairs of large, stout, recurved, conical teeth in ea:h 

 jaw ; flippers large, ovate, and nearly as broad as long ; back- 

 fin very tall, sharply pointed, and situated nearly in the middle 

 of the back ; whole conformation of body very stout, and the 

 front of the head much depressed and flattened. 



THE COMMON KILLER, OR GRAMPUS. ORCA GLADIATOR. 



Delphinus orca^ Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 12, p. 108 (1766). 

 Delphinus area, et D. gladiator, Bonnaterre, Cetologie, pp. 22 



and 23 (1789). 

 Phoccena orca, F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Cetaces, p. 177 (1836); 



Bel', British Quadrupeds, p. 477 (1837). 

 Orca gladiatoj', Gray, Zool. Voy. Erebus and Terror, p. 33 



(1846); Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 445 (1874); 



Southwell, British Seals and Whales, p. 113 (1881); 



Flower, List Cetacea Brit. Mus. p. 18 (1885). 

 Orca stenorhyncha, et O. latirostris, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, 



pp. 71, 76. 

 Characters.— Black above and white beneath, with a white 

 spot above each eye. Length of adult 20 feet, or more. 



Distribution. — Owing to the uncertainty as to whether there is 

 more than one existing species, the distribution of the Common 

 Killer cannot be accurately defined, but it is not improbable 



