57 



as she continued in the water, he attended ; and even three days after 

 her death, he was observed to remain in expectation of her return. 

 They are most voracious creatures, and feed with their head under 

 water, quite inattentive to the boats, or anything that passes around 

 them ; moving and swimming gently after one another with a great 

 portion o| their back out of the water. Every now and then they 

 elevate the nose to take breath, and make a noise like the snorting of a 

 horse. They were taken at Behring's Island by a great hook fastened 

 to a long rope, which was taken into a boat, and rowed among the herd. 

 "When the animal was struck, the loose end of the rope was conveyed to 

 land, where it was seized by about thirty people, who with great diffi- 

 culty drew it on shore. 



In summer they are very fat ; in winter quite lean. Steller also ob- 

 serves that this animal grows to the length of twenty-eight feet, and 

 that the weight of a very large one was 8,000 pounds. 



ORDER 10. ZEUGLODONTIA. 1 



Teeth of two kinds (?), incisors conical, sharp-pointed, single-rooted, 

 placed somewhat remote from each other; molars compressed, apex 

 obtuse, double-rooted, set rather closely together into deep sockets ; 

 face of the skull much elongated, slender ; nasal orifices normal, that 

 is, opening at the extremity of the muzzle, as in terrestrial mammals ; 

 body elongate, whale-like ; pectoral limbs small, fin-shaped ; hinder 

 probably deficient. 



From the foregoing general definition of the structure of the animals of 

 this extinct group, it is interesting to observe that while retaining their 

 own individuality, how singularly these organic remains connect by 

 marked coincident features the preceding to the following order. 



In instituting a comparison between them, we remark that the normal 

 position of the breathing apertures, and the structural form of the 

 teeth, are characters peculiarly their own ; the teeth, most probably of 

 two kinds only, with the molars, flattened at their apices, and double- 

 rooted, attach them to the Sirenoids ; the greatly elongated beak, and 

 pointed incisors, suggest their alliance with the Whales ; while the 

 pisci-formed body and pinnated pectoral limbs are properties in 

 common to them all. 



Genus ZEUGLODON, 1 Owen. 

 Synonyms Basilosaurus, Harlan. 

 Squalodon, Grateloup. 

 Ifydrarchus, Koch. 

 Darydon, Gibbes. 



1 <>iry\7j, a yoke, and uSovs, a tooth like two teeth tied OP yoked together. 



