1861.] DR. J. E. GRAV ON A SPECIES OF TEREDO. 313 



In the same manner Professor Eschricht, of Copenhagen (and no 

 one has studied the Whales of the North Sea with greater earnest- 

 ness and success), regards Hyperoodon latifrons as the male of the 

 old well-known Hyperoodon rostratum, because his spedmen of the 

 former belongs to a male, and that of the latter to a female specimen ; 

 and he exhibits them side by side as sexes of the same animal in his 

 Museum (see Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1».')2, ix. p. 281). Now 

 this is an evident mistake, arising from mistaking an accidental coin- 

 cidence for an established fact. 



The specimen from which the skeleton of Hyperoodon latifrons 

 was derived, that is in the Museum of the College of Surgeons in 

 Edinburgh, was & female, which was taken on the 24th of October, 

 1839, accompanied by a young male, in the Frith of Forth, Therefore 

 there are female as well as male specimens known of Hyperoodon 

 latifrons, which is regarded by Professor Eschricht as the male of the 

 more common H. rostratum, of which I have also seen males as well 

 as females, as recorded in my paper on this subject in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings ' of the Society for November 1860. 



3. On a Large Species of Teredo, supposed to be the 

 Animal of the Genus Furcella, Lamk. By Dr. J. E. 

 Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., etc. 



In a former communication to the Society on the genus Furcella, 

 I came to the conclusion that the animal of that genus was destitute 

 of any shelly valves, because on examining the tube of a young spe- 

 cimen in a very perfect state, that contained in its cavity the two 

 palettes of the animal, it had no appearance of valves, which I sup- 

 posed would be of too large a size to have escaped out of the tube, 

 more especially as the palettes were in it, which were of a much 

 smaller size and more slender character than the valves were likely 

 to be, and the tube had all the appearance of the animal which 

 formed it having been eaten out by the larvae of Muscidce, as the 

 skins of the larvae and pupa-cases were found in the tube with the 

 palettes. 



But this shows the danger of coming to any conclusion without 

 one has the actual specimen before one ; for we have lately received 

 from Mr. Jamrach, along with a number of Fishes, Reptiles, and 

 other animals in spirits, chiefly from the Dutch Colonies of the 

 Indian Ocean, two specimens of a large species of true typical Te- 

 redines in spirit, without their shelly tube, but with their palettes 

 attached, which seem to be very probably the animal of the genus 

 Furcella. 



The reason why I believe them to be the animal of that genus is, 

 first, their large size, which is quite sufficient to form a tube as large 

 as the younger specimen of the genus Furcella, and, secondly, the 

 form and size of the palette, which agree in general character with 

 those which were found in the tube of Furcella, and which are 

 figured in the 'Proceedings' of the Society for 1857, p. 243, Mol- 



