THE ZOOLOGIST. 
THIRD SERIES. 
Vot. II.) JANUWABY, 1878. [No. 18. 
ON THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS OF THE 
BRITISH CETACEHA. 
By tHe EpItor. 
Ir frequently happens that large Cetaceans are unexpectedly 
cast up on some part or other of our coast, run aground, or are 
killed within sight of land and towed ashore. Few persons being 
acquainted with these creatures for want of opportunity to study 
and compare their various forms, or for want of access to descrip- 
tions, the species often remains undetermined until the carcase is 
cut up, and the various portions of it become dispersed. In this 
way many a good opportunity of adding to our knowledge of these 
marine Mammalia is unfortunately lost. 
Under these circumstances it has occurred to me that a list of 
the British Cetacea, with a brief enumeration of the distinguishing 
characters of each, may be of service in assisting in the first 
instance towards the identification of a species, whose history and 
perhaps. habits, if known, may then be ascertained from other 
sources. Once the species is made out, it is not difficult, as a 
rule, to learn more about it. The difficulty at starting is to 
name it. 
At the present day it is perhaps scarcely necessary to observe 
that Whales and Dolphins, notwithstanding their external appear- 
ance and oceanic life, are not fishes, but marine mammals, which 
bring forth their young alive, and nourish them in precisely the 
same way as do the terrestrial mammals. 
B 
vy 
