SOME OBSKRVATIONS ON ANTARCTIC CETACEA. 



499 



passed us swimming S.E., travelling in companies of seven or eight, plunging half 

 out of the seas, and tossing up spirts of white water. They were about seven feet 

 in length, with black round heads and a white patch over the eye. Some had 

 patches of grey-white on their backs. They resembled the American drawings 

 (True) of the pigmy sperm, but had a large dorsal fin." 



BURN MURDOCH'S sketch and my remembrance of these animals incline me to 

 the belief that they were Globiocephalus, and that they were Globiocephalus melas 

 (Traill). BURN MURDOCH'S estimate of their length, the estimate of an extremely 

 accurate field naturalist, is, however, small, being only a little more than half the 

 length given by TRUE ; moreover, the white patch over the eye and some grey -white 



Globiocephalus. By W. G. Burn Murdoch. 



on their backs do not tally with the white markings recorded by TRUE, but these 

 may be variable. The dorsal fin, however, appears to agree with that of Globio- 

 cephalus. MURIE'S figure of the head closely resembles that of BURN MURDOCH, 

 except in regard to the upper lip, the shape of which in the case of a swiftly 

 moving animal may easily have been missed. The shape and position of the 

 dorsal fin in both are practically identical, as well as the general contour of the 

 body.* It may be useful to give TRUE'S description t of the genus and species 

 Globiocephalus melas : 



" Globiocephalus, Gray. 



" Rostrum short and very broad. Rostral portion of intermaxillae flat and very 

 broad (sometimes covering the entire anterior half of the rostrum). Symphysis of 

 mandible short. Pterygoid bones large and in contact. Teeth few and large, 7 to 11, 

 confined to the anterior half of the rostrum. Vertebrae, 57 to 60. 



" Head globular, with a rounded protuberance on the lip ; beak wanting ; mouth 

 oblique. Dorsal fin very long, low, and thick. Pectoral fins narrow and very long. 

 Colour black. 



* MURIB, Trans, of the Zool. Soc. of London, viii., 1873, pi. xxx. fig. 1. 



t "Contributions to the Natural History of the Cetaceans : a Review of the Family Delphinidse," by FREDERICK 

 W. TRUE, Bulletin of the United States National Museum, No. 36, pp. 183, 184, pi. xl. fig. 1. 



