101 



Dr. Crowther more recently communicates, in the Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 London, the following information, which materially adds to our 

 knowledge of the habits of this cetacean : "This species is in reality a 

 miniature Sperm Whale in its habits, &c., feeding upon the same food, 

 geographically occupying the same localities as the Sperm Whale, fol- 

 lowing the great equatorial currents, so long as they retain their warmth, 

 and met with in the greatest numbers in the southern hemisphere at 

 those points where the equatorial meet the polar currents, eddies 

 being formed in which no doubt the squid collects. I am not aware 

 that Blackfish preys upon anything but squid 1 ; it is essentially gre- 

 garious, countless hordes being met with where food is abundant. 

 Length, 12 to 15 feet; diamater, 3 to 4 feet; weight, 2 to 3 tons, 

 the former about the average. Oil, the only kind that will mix with 

 sperm." 



Several other animals, said to be of the genus Globiocephalus, have 

 been claimed as distinct species by zoologists ; they may be so, but no 

 distinctive quality of any importance has been pointed out, beyond 

 those variations incident to every one of the cetacea, and perpetually 

 exhibited among the best known and most familiar of the family. 

 These are 



G. affinis, Gray. North Sea. 



G-. intermedius, Harlan. Coasts of North America. 



G-. Edwardsii, A. Smith. Coasts of Cape of Good Hope. 



G. Grayi, Burmeister. Buenos Ayres. 



G. Scammonii, Cope. North Pacific. 



G. Indicus, Birth. Bay of Bengal. 



G. Sieboldii, Gray. Japan. 



G. Sinensis, Blyth. China. 



G. Sibo, Gray. Japan. 



The foregoing list is compiled from Dr. Gray's Supplement to the 

 Seals and Whales, pp. 84, 85. 



Genus SPBLEROCEPHALUS, 1 Gray. 



" Palate of the skull convex ; beak oblong, of nearly the same width 

 the greater part of its length." Gray. 



S 2 iNCEAssATUS, 3 Gray. The Thick-palated Deductor. 



Synonym Sphcerocephalm incrassatus, Gray, S. & W., p. 324 ; Suppl. 



p. 85. 



Teeth & or ^-. 

 Inhab : British Seas. 



1 Dr. Crowther writes to me, that subsequently to this assertion, ho finds that in 

 addition to the squid, the black-fish consume large quantities of fish and Crustacea ; 

 for in the agonies of death, conger eels, crabs, crayfish, &c., have been ejected from 

 their stomachs. 



2 <T<pa.?pa, a globe, and Kpa\i'i, the head. 

 8 Thickened. 



