5l0 PROF. FLOWER ON THE DELPHINIDiE. [NoV. 20, 



The genus Sphcerocephalus of Gray (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 244 ; Cat. 

 Sp-iIs and Whales, 2nd ed. p. 323, 1866), contahiiug one species 

 {S. incrassatus, Gray), is founded on a skull of Qlobiceps melas, 

 which has been some time at the bottom of the sea, grinding among 

 the sand and shingle until all the most prominent parts have worn 

 away. 



Grampus, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, p. 30 (1846). 



Teeth, none in the upper jaw ; in the mandible few (3 to 7 on 

 each side) and confined to the region of the symphysis. Vertebrae : 

 C 7, D 12, L 19, C 30; total 68. General external characters 

 much as in Globiceps, hxxt the fore part of the head less rounded, 

 and the pectoral fins less elongated. 



One species, G. griseus (Cuvier), is known, about 13 feet long, 

 and remarkable for the variability of its colour. It occurs in the 

 North Atlantic and Mediterranean. A skull from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, which differs slightly, has been described by Gray as 

 G. richardsoni. See also G. souverbianus, Fischer, Actes de la Soc. 

 Linn, de Bordeaux, xxxv. p. 210 (1881). 



Feresia, Gray, Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales in Brit. Mus. p. 78, 



may be placed here provisionally, although only known at present by 

 the skulls of two individuals, which cannot be placed in anyof the other 

 recognized genera. Although its position, if a good genus, cannot 

 be determined until the characters of the remaining parts of the 

 animal are known, the cranium and teeth indicate that it is a 

 connecting link between Globiceps, Gramjms, and Lagenorhynchus. 

 From the latter it differs chiefly in the smaller number (about -) 



and much larger size (6-7 millim. in diameter at base of crown) of 

 the teeth. The two skulls are both in the British Museum ; one is 

 of unknown locality, the other from the " South Seas," obtained 

 through Mr.Godeffroy. They have been both well figured, of half the 

 natural size — the first under the name of Orca intermedia in the 

 ' Zoology of the Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,' pi. viii., the 

 second as Feresia attenuata in the 'Journal du Museum Godef- 

 froy,' Heft viii. (1875). Both appear to belong to the same species, 

 although the latter is somewhat smaller and has a narrower rostrum. 

 This is, however, a much younger specimen, and exactly corre- 

 sponding differences are observed between the young and adults 

 of Glohiceps and Orca of apparently the same species. The 

 smaller size of the teeth of the latter is due partly to younger age 

 and partly to their bases being covered with the dried gum, whereas 

 in the former they are entirely exposed. The greater number of 

 the teeth ( ^,~^g , as against yjEio) i^ ^^^^ owing to the presence of 

 several small ones at the end of the series, which appear to have been 

 lost in the more mature specimen, in reference to which Dr. Gray is 

 quite right in dissenting from an opinion which I once rashly ex- 

 pressed at the commencement of my cetological studies (P. Z. S. 



