1865.] MR. W. H. FLOWER ON PSEUDORCA MERIDIONALIS. 471 
consignment lately forwarded by him to the College Museum are 
two skeletons of animals called ‘“ Blackfish,’’ accompanied, however, 
by the following important note :——‘‘ The Blackfish skeletons are of 
a different variety to the heads I sent you. In these this portion is 
obtuse, in the former ones pointed at the snout, whence they are 
called by the whalers, for the sake of distinction, ‘ peaked noses.’ ”” 
We learn from this that two very different animals are included 
under the common name of Blackfish by the inhabitants of the 
Australian coasts, and that the description given by Mr. Crowther, 
quoted in my notice of Orca meridionalis, does not apply to that 
animal at all, but rather to the “ Blackfish”’ of which the skeletons 
are now sent, and which belong to the genus Globiocephalus. 
Of the external appearance, habits, and geographical distribution 
of the meridionalis we know, therefore, next to nothing at present ; 
but the fact of their having ‘peaked noses”’ corresponds with the 
external characters assigned by Reinhardt to the individuals stranded 
on the Danish coast, on which his genus Pseudorca is founded *, and 
entirely removes them from Globiocephalus. 
A perusal of the memoir of the distinguished Copenhagen Pro- 
fessor, a translation of which will shortly be published by the Ray 
Society, has convinced me that Pseudorca is a distinctly characterized 
genus, intermediate between Grampus and Orca of Gray, separated 
from the latter more especially by the pectoral fins being small and 
pointed, instead of large, very broad, and oval+, and by the different 
form and very inferior size of the dorsal fin. 
Until the remainder of the skeleton can be examined, or an accu- 
rate description of the external form obtained, there may still be 
some uncertainty as to whether the new Tasmanian species should 
be referred to the genus established by Reinhardt, although the 
probabilities are very greatly in favour of such a supposition. As 
to its specific distinction from P. crassidens, of course the external 
characters formerly given are now of no value; but from a compa- - 
rison of the figures of the cranium in the ‘ Proceedings’ with the 
specimens at Copenhagen, Professor Reinhardt has arrived at the 
same conclusion with myself. 
I should take this opportunity of mentioning that in the figure of 
the upper surface of the skull (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 421) the artist has 
neglected to reverse his drawing on the block; the consequence is 
that the distortion of the nasal apertures is represented in the wrong 
direction. 
* “ Pseudorca crassidens, et for den Danske Fauna nyt Hvaldyr,” K. Danske 
Vid. Selsk. Nov. 1862. 
+ The genus Orca, as Reinhardt has mentioned, is distinguished from other 
Cetaceans by haying all the phalanges broader than long. 
