45 



The character which Mr. Gray of the British Museum, has 

 ascribed to his short-headed toothed whales, or his genus Kogia, is 

 as follows : — " Head moderate, broad, triangailar. Lower jaw 

 wide beneath, slender, united by a short symphysis in front. Jaw- 

 bone of skull broad, triangular, as broad as long." 



Now, De Blainville (Ann, Anat. Phys. III. t. 15) had pre- 

 viously by means of a single skull from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and which is lodged in the Paris Museum, distinguished a ceta- 

 cean mammal under the name of Physeter hreviceps, wdth the 

 following characters, viz. : — " Skull very broad and high. The 

 frontal crest very distinct, and the nasal pit very deep, rather 

 like that of the cacholat. Nose very short and pointed, very 

 rapidly tapering, only one inch longer than the breadth of occi- 

 pital bone. The lower jaw is very wide apart at the condyles, 

 bent sharply inwards, and united in front by a moderate 

 symphysis, and very narrow, but rounded at the end. Teeth, 

 fourteen or fifteen, narrow, slender, conical, acute, and rather 

 arched inwardly ; length of skull, fourteen inches six lines ; 

 lower jaw, thirteen inches ; separation of the condyles, twelve 

 inches ; symphysis, about two-ninths of length of lower jaw ; 

 beak, the length of width at the notch. This skull bears no 

 resemblance to the skull of the young sperm whale." And 

 it was upon these few facts recorded by De Blainville that 

 Mr. Gray founded his genus Kogia, with the above mentioned 

 character. 



The Sydney animal, whose head has been described above, may 

 be called Euphysetes, and as a genus, the following characters 

 may be assigned to it, viz.: — Head moderate, rounded behind, and 

 subteraugular in front where the base is broad, and the snout 

 truncated, slightly reflexed, and marginated at the extremity ; the 

 spermacetic cavity of skull is longitudinally divided by a bony 

 ridge near the occiput ; single blow-hole externally situated in 

 middle of head at base of snout ; low^er jaw, wide at the condyles, 

 having the branches in front united into a short narrow symphy- 

 sis, with about twenty-six teeth, thirteen on each side. 



