Order 9. 



CETACEA. 



135 



One has been thrown upon our coasts (Z). micropterus, Cuv.), remarkable for the small size and backward posi- 

 tion of its dorsal fin ; it attains a length of fifteen feet, and loses all its teeth at an early age. [Only a sinple 

 specimen of this remarkable species has ever been obtained, which was cast upon the shore near Havre : its form 

 is slender and elongated, and the head is externally attached to the body by a distinct neck. No teeth were 

 discovered in either jaw in the recent state ; but after the gums were removed, a few rudimentary teeth were 

 found in the lower jaw, as often happens in the upper jaw of the Cachalots. This animal constitutes the Aodun, 

 we believe, of Lesson.] 



Another, which also sometimes occurs in our seas (D. rostratus, Cuv.), has a slender muzzle, externally all even 

 with the head, and twenty-one teeth on each side of both jaws. Its dorsal is of the ordinary size. 



The Soosoo of the Ganges (D. gmigciicus, Roxburgh) should be separated from the foregoing, having the 

 spiracle in a longitudinal line, and slender jaws swoln at the end. [Its teeth are thirty on each side above and 

 below, and according to M. F. Cuvier, the long symphysis and the intermaxillary crests approximate it to the 

 Cachalots.] It ascends very high up the Ganges, and is probably the Platanista of Pliny, [which might be 

 adopted as its generic designation]. 



short 



The Porpoises [Phocce-na, Cuv.) — 

 Have no beak [the largeness of the front-head compensating for its non-extension], but a 

 muzzle, uniformly convex. 



The Common Porpoise (Belph. pltocana, Lin.), compressed and trenchant teeth, of a rounded form, to the 

 number of twenty-two or twenty-four on each side of both jaws ; blackish above, the under-parts wliite. It is 

 [one of] the smallest of the Cetacea, not exceeding four or five feet in length, and is very conmion in all our 

 seas, where it associates in vast herds. 



The Grampus (Z). o/-ca and D. gladiator, Auct.). — Large conical teeth, a little crooked, eleven on each side above 

 and below, the posterior transversely flattened : body black above and white beneath ; a whitish crescent-shaped 

 mark over the eye; and the dorsal fin elevated and pointed. It is the largest of the Dolphin group, becoming 

 from twenty to twenty-five feet in length ; and is a cruel enemy to the Whale, which it attacks in troops, tor- 

 menting it till it opens its mouth, when they devour the tongue. 



A smaller species is occasionally met with on our coasts (/>. arics, Risso ; [PA. griscns, F. Cuv.] ), which loses 

 its upper teeth at an early age, and retains but few of the lower : its dorsal fin is less elevated and placed further 

 backward than in the Grampus, which latter is the true Aries of the ancients. The Epaulard venlru of Bonaterre 

 presents a similar form ; but Hunter's specimen was eighteen feet in length, whereas the present species does not 

 exceed ten. 



[The species with globular heads compose the 



Globiceph.^lus, Lesson.] 



The Deductor, or CaHng Whale (Delph. globiceps, Cuv. [G^. deduct or, Scoresby] ). — Head globular, with long and 

 pointed swimming paws : attains a length of more than twenty feet ; and is black, with a white streak from the 

 throat to the anus. This species lives in troops of several hundreds, conducted by old males ; and is sometimes 

 thrown upon our coasts. It has from nine to thirteen teeth on each side above and below, but loses all of them 

 v.ith age. [A beautiful second species (G/. Rissii) e.xists in the Mediterranean, and two others have been deli- 

 neated and described.] 



The Delphinapterus, Lacejjcde, — 



Merely diifers from the Porpoises in having no dorsal fin. [This name has more recently been con- 

 fined to such as have a beak like the Dolphins, the others constituting the 



Beluga, Lesson. 

 To the latter subdivision appertains] 



Tlie White Beluga {Delph. leiiros, Gm. ; D. albicans, Fabr.), with nine teeth on each side above and below, 

 thick and blunt throughout ; a yellowish-white skin ; head externally convex like that of a Porpoise, [but more 

 apiiioaching to globular], and size that of a Grampus. It inhabits all the glacial seas, and sometimes ascends 

 rivers to some distance. [Is occasionally met with on the British coasts. 



To the restricted 



Delphinapterus — 



belongs] 



The White-beaked Dolphin of Peron (D. leucoramphit.". Per. ; [Delphinapterus Peronii, Less.], an inhabitant of 

 the Austral seas, the head of which is but slightly convex and rather pointed, and the muzzle, part of the swim- 

 ming-paws, and all the under parts of the body, lustrous-white ; the superior portion black. It has from thirty- 

 eight to forty-two teeth on each side above and below.* 



• M. Rafinesque speaks of a Dolphin with two dorsal fins [on which 

 he bestows the appellation Orypterus] ; and M. M. Quoy and Gayraard 

 Ba:T one they have named D. rkinoceroif Voy. lie Frej/cinet, n. I. 21 ; 



but as they only saw it at a distance, and hal(-imn>er>ed ia the wmt, 

 there may have been some optical delusion. 



