416 PHYSETERID^. 



to have had a high dorsal fin " like the mizzen-mast of a 

 ship,'^ but they were not examined by Sibbald himself. 

 Although such a Whale has been since recorded as being 

 seen by various observers, not a single specimen has ever 

 fallen into the hands of any naturalist, and as Dr. Gray 

 observes, " there is not a bone, nor even a fragment of a 

 bone, nor any part that can be proved to have belonged 

 to a specimen of this gigantic animal, to be seen in any 

 museum in Europe." In spite, therefore, of Sibbald's 

 well-earned character for accuracy, it is evident that 

 Physeter tursio must be dismissed — at least provisionally 

 • — as an ill-established species. The Cachelot of the 

 southern hemisphere was separated, in 1851, under the 

 name of Catadon australis, Wall, but its distinction from 

 the northern Sperm-Whale is very doubtful. Prof. 

 Flower, in an exhaustive memoir " On the Osteology 

 of the Cachelot," published in the sixth volume of the 

 " Transactions of the Zoological Society," has carefully 

 compared skeletons from Tasmania and Britain, and fails 

 to find any characters of specific value by which to dis- 

 tinguish them, though he does not deny that the animals 

 may yet prove distinct in their outward organization. 

 Meantime it is evident that we must revert to the views 

 of Cuvier, and admit only one species of this genus as 

 being yet clearly established. The genus Kogia of Gray, 

 inhabiting the southern seas, is a very distinct form, but 

 at present is only imperfectly known. 



Instead of inhabiting the Arctic and Antarctic seas, 

 as was formerly stated, the Sperm-Whale is a native of 

 the tropical and warmer temperate latitudes, from which 

 it occasionally wanders, both northwards and southwards. 

 The principal fisheries are carried on in the southern 

 hemisphere. Stray examples have often wandered to the 

 European shores, and these, as pointed out to us by Prof. 



