PROFESSOR OWEN ON INDIAN CETACEA. 33 



length of the ramus (48 inches to 92 inches)'. The blubber-portion of the carcase 

 having been removed previously to the articulator's arrival on the spot^, no obser\a 

 on the condition of the dorsal fin or hump was made. 



Cuvier characterizes the " Cachalot macrocephale" {Catodon macrocephalus, Ait., 

 Physeter macrocephalus, Linn.) as having the back provided with a slightly raised 

 prominence, which some have called "fin," others "longitudinal ridge", others "hump" 

 or " tubercle" {loc. cit. p. 338) : " 11 a une dorsale tres-peu saUlante vers 1' arriere 

 dudos, quelquefois reduite a une protuberance, on a deux ou trois" (ib. p. 339). In the 

 ' Regno Animal,' Cuvier says, " II n'a qu'une eminence caUeuse aa lieu de nageoire 

 dorsale" (tom. i. p. 294, ed. 1829). In the judicious criticism on the alleged or nominal 

 species of Sperm-Whales, in the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' Cuvier asks, " Existe-t-il en outre 

 des Cachalots a haute dorsale % en existe-t-il dont I'event soit perce pres du front sur le 

 milieu de la tete 1 en existe-t-il ou les branches de la machohe inferieure ne soient pas 

 reunies sur la plus grande partie de leur longueur en une symphyse cylindi-ique 1 VoUa 

 ce qui reste a chercher, ce qui restc a prouver autrement que par des figures tracees par 

 des matelots. Ce n'est qu'apres que des hommes eclaires auront observe ces etres 

 avec soin, et en aui-ont depose les parties osseuses dans des collections oii elles puissent 

 etre verifiees par des naturalistes, qu'il sera possible a la critique de les admettre dans 

 le catalogue des animaux" {torn. cit. p. 340). 



As regards large Cachalots these questions, as I have remarked, still wait their solu- 

 tion. Li the small Cetacean called " Wonga," of the seas washing the eastern coast of 

 the Indian peninsula, we have, however, a satisfactory reply to them. 



In it we possess a member of the Physeteridce — a Cachalot in fact — though small, in 

 which the dorsal is lofty, with the usual shape of such weU-devcloped fin in Cetacea, in 

 which the blow-hole is not terminal but near the forehead, and in which, as will pre- 

 sently be shown, the mandibular rami are united by a symphysis of less than half the 

 length of the " rami." The inferior mouth, unsymmetrical blow-hole, and the second 

 tegumentary production in form of the dorsal ridge, shown in the careful di-awings by 

 the native artist, significantly indicated the family affinities of the "Wonga:" the 

 enlightened attention and care bestowed by Mr. Elliot on this seldom-studied branch of 

 zoology has enabled me to place this conclusion on unequivocal grounds, through his 

 transmissic<n, with the drawings, of the skull of one of the individuals figured. 



To the study and comparison of this precious evidence I have devoted fuU attention : 

 it is figured, half the natural size, in Plates XII., XIII., & XIV. fig. 1. Its peculiarity 

 of form is extreme : perhaps no other Cetacean skull has yet been observed in which the 

 cranial so greatly preponderates over the rostral part. In the degree in which this pro- 

 portion prevails in the skuU first made known by De BlainvUle as of the Cachalot which 

 he called Phjseter breviceps ^ and in that subsequently described by Macleay * under 



■ Op. cit. p. 9. ' ^P- "'■ P- ■^• 



» Annales Prangaises et EtrangOres d'Anatomie et de Physiologic, tom. ii. (8vo, 1838) p. 335 : " Sur les 



Cachalots." ' '^P- "'• 



TOr,. VI. PART I. ^ 



