Notice of a Cetaceous Animal. 301 
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Art. XII.—WVotice of a Cetaceous Animal supposed to be new to” 
oo. the American coast ; by Wit11am Sampson. 
ae Read before the New York Lyceum of Natural History, Noy. 4, 1832. 
Tuts animal belongs to the eighth order of Mammalia which is 
grouped under the name of Cetacea. It is naturally arranged under 
the sub-genus Phocena of Cuvier, which comprises the Porpoise, 
Grampus, and a few others which are not yet sufficiently known or 
distinguished. ‘This genus is characterized by a single dorsal fin, 
and the short, abrupt and rounded head without the elongated beak. 
It has numerous teeth in each jaw. This had twenty teeth in the 
upper and eighteen in the under jaw, increasing in length towards the 
middle of each jaw, with a space between the teeth equal to the di- 
ameter of the tooth, so as to admit the teeth of the opposing jaw to 
shut into the interstice. The teeth were canine in their form and in- 
curvated somewhat suddenly towards the point. The longest teeth 
were about three quarters of an inch out of the jaw. 
"Phe individual d ee | . ty } way Sty Be 
which was first accurately described and delineated by Cuvier in the 
Annals of the Museum. This animal, although now for the first time 
identified here, is by no means a stranger to our shores. Ten years _ 
ago a shoal, which amounted to near one hundred,‘ came ashore on 
Welfleet near Cape Cod. In the notice which appeared in the pa- 
pers they were called Black Whale-fish, and were described as being 
from ten to twenty feet long; and it is added that they were once 
tommon near these shores, but had not appeared here for many years 
Previous. It is also stated to be a peculiarity of these animals, when 
they find themselves in shallow water, that from fright or other causes 
they run ashore and perish. ‘They are common on the coast. of. 
_ Scotland ; and Doctor Hibbert, in his account of the Western Isles, 
given an amusing description of a whale hunt in which hundreds 
of these animals are captured in a day. | 
~ This same animal has also been described and figured in the Jour- 
nal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, but the ingenious author 
of that description has considered it sufficiently distinct to merit a 
Rewname. The only striking difference appears to be in the stric- 
lure near the tail, which may have been an error of the engraver in 
le endeavor to represent the peculiar carina on the upper part of 
the body where it approaches the tail, and which terminates at the 
