C 17 ] 



II. On some Indian Cetacea collected by Walter Elliot, Esq. 

 By Professor Owen, F.B.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



Bead Juue 26th, 1865. 



[Plates III— XIV.] 



Contributions to our knowledge of the singular and interesting order of 

 Cetacean mammals {Cetacea vera, Cuv.) are so desirable, and acquisitions of evidences 

 of exotic kinds are so few and far between, that I am induced to think the following 

 may be deemed acceptable and worthy of publication by the Zoological Society. 



The materials chiefly consist of coloured drawings and skulls of species captured or 

 cast ashore on the east coast of the Indian peninsula, in the vicinity of the harbour of 

 Vizagapatam, in the northern circars of the Madras Presidency. 



Special care was taken by Walter Elliot, Esq., of Wolfelee', when resident at that loca- 

 lity, to have all such " stray waifs" from the whale-family brought directly to his cogni- 

 zance ; and he availed himself of the skill of a native artist, for whose accuracy he vouches, 

 to make drawings of the specimens while recent; and these, for the most part, were 

 executed under Mr. Elliot's own eyes. A selection from the drawings and some skulls 

 of the Vizagapatam Cetacea have been confided to me by my friend for comparison and 

 description ; and the results of this labour, as respects what seemed " new to science," 

 I have now the pleasure to communicate. 



Family DELPHINIDiE. 



Genus Delphinus, Cuvier. 

 Delphinus (subgenus Steno, Gray) gadamu, Owen. 

 The " Gadamu" Dolphin. (PI. III. figs. 1 & 2.) 



This species is known to the Vizagapatam fishermen by the name of " Gadamu." It 

 averages about 7 feet in length. The specimen figured is a female of 6 feet 10 inches 

 in length. 



The body is fusifonn, gaining its gi-eatest diameter at the fore part of the dorsal fin, 

 where the girth is 3 feet 9 inches. From this point the body decreases forward to the head, 

 by straight converging lines laterally (fig. 2), and with a gentle convex curve superiorly 

 (fig. 3), to the eyes and blow-hole; thence the sides of the head converge more acutely to the 



'■ Now Sir "Walter EUiot, K.C.S.I. 



VOL. YI. — PART I. D 



