468 PROF. FLOWER ON THE DELPHINID^. [NoV. 20, 



Yet in default of any other convenient systematic work, Dr. Gray's 

 Catalogue is constantly referred to, and liis names and views of 

 affinity are becoming so deeply rooted in zoological literature, that 

 it appears time that an attempt should be made to supply some- 

 thing upon a more scientific basis, at all events to afford those who 

 have not the means of examining the original types, upon which the 

 Catalogue was mainly founded, some idea of what these types really 

 are, and of the extent to which his divisions seem justified by the 

 facts upon which he based them. 



In the present communication I have confined myself to the 

 family Delphinidce as defined in the article jMammalia in the 

 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. xv. p. 398 (1883), or the Toothed 

 Whales, which remain after separating the Fhyseterid(E (containing 

 the Cachalots and the Ziphioids), and the three aberrant genera 

 Platanista, Inia, and Fontoporia. This family is a perfectly natural 

 one, containing a very large number of species, the main outlines of 

 whose anatomical structure are essentially alike, but which present 

 numerous modifications in small details. Among them there are 

 certain forms, easily separated by well defined characters, and of 

 which the structure is sufficiently known to permit of their being 

 definitely characterized as forming divisions which may be considered 

 as of generic value. These are Movodon, Delphi7ia]}ierus, Phoccena, 

 Neoyneris, Orcetla, Orca, Pseudorca, Globiceps, Gratnpits, and 

 perhaps Feresia, of which the skull only is at present known. After 

 the separation of these, there is still a large residuum of species, 

 too heterogeneous to constitute a single genus, but never yet satis- 

 factorily divided into natural groups, unless the fifteen generic and 

 subgeneric divisions of Dr. Gray's final revision contained in the 

 ' Supplement to the Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British 

 Museum' (18/1) can be considered as such. 



It is to this residuum of the Dolphins, which in the article in the 

 ' Encyclopaedia' above referred to is left in the old genus Delphinvs 

 in preference to adopting divisions the value of which at that time 

 I had not had the op])ortunity of testing, that I have mainly 

 addressed myself in the present communication. For this purpose 

 I have made as full an examination as the time at my disposal afforded 

 of ail the specimens in the British Museum, including the types of 

 all Dr. Gray's genera and species, as also of those in the Museums of 

 Paris, Leiden, the College of Surgeons of London, Cambridge Univer- 

 sity, and in several minor collections. 



The collections now being made in America I have had unfor- 

 tunately no opportunity of examining personally, except in so far 

 as they are represented in the United-States department of the 

 International Fisheries Exhibition of tiie present year ; but I am 

 greatly indebted to the kindness of the Commissioners for the faci- 

 lities they have afforded me in studying these, and in comparing them 

 with European specimens. 



I am very far from thinking that the result of this examination 

 has led to any thing like a complete knowledge of even the main 

 outlines of the classification of this difficult group. Even for a 



