Dr. H. Burmeister on some Cetaceans, 99 



Fiff. 4. Bombus fervidus. The pupa state, where the body has become 

 much shorter, the appendages of the head and thorax greatly 

 differentiated, the external genital organs wholly retracted with- 

 in the cavity of the abdomen, the head freer from the body, 

 and the whole bulk of the head and thorax together, including 

 the appendages, greater than that of the abdomen, c, the pro- 

 podeum, nearly concealed in a side view ; p, labrum ; q, maxillae, 

 with the two-jointed palpi at the extremity ; r, tip of the lingua. 



XVI. — On some Cetaceans. By Hermann Burmeister. 



(From a Letter to Dr. J. E. Gray.) 



[Plate IX.] 



The Museum has received another new species of Cetacea since 

 my letter; it is a new Orca, which I name O. magellanica, 

 and now send a figure of the skull with a description. The 

 species is nearest to 0. capensis, but more slender and different 

 in many respects, as you will find by comparing my figure and 

 description. The animal was found on the shore, near the 

 mouth of the small river called " Arroyo de Cristiano muerto," 

 in S. lat. 38° 50', and was in a perfect state of preservation; 

 but, by the negligence of the people who found it, the whole 

 skeleton was lost, with the exception of the skull and two verte- 

 brae (one dorsal, one caudal) which have come into my hands. 



From your Catalogue I learn that you do not know the skull 

 of the adult Sea-Lion or that of Arctocephalus Falklandicus. We 

 have both in the Museum, these two species being the only ones 

 which are found in the Atlantic, near the mouth of the Rio de 

 la Plata. They were formerly very common on the small islands 

 north of the mouth of the river, named from them "Islas de los 

 lobos," lobo marino (sea-wolf) being the Spanish name for a 

 Seal ; and not unfrequently they come into the mouth of the 

 river even as far as Buenos Ayres, where I have already twice 

 seen full-grown living specimens of Arctocephalus Falklandicus. 

 Both of these were, I believe, carried to France ; but perhaps 

 they died on the voyage. They were kept here for a long time 

 in a large basin of fresh water; and I was one of the daily 

 visitors to these very interesting animals*. 



We have in the Museum a young half-grown specimen nearly 

 3 feet in length. From this 1 have taken the skull, of which I 

 now send you a description and drawings (PI. IX. fig. 1 from 

 above, and fig. 2 from the side, one-half natural size ; fig. 3, end 

 of the palatine bones, natural size ; and fig. 4, some teeth, seen 

 from the inside, also natural size. The numbers indicate the 



• I have no doubt it is one of these that is now alive in the Zoological 

 Gardens in the Regent's Park. — J. E. G. 



