[ ^'1 ] 



Vlll. Note to Memoir on the Indian Cefacea collected bij Sir Walter Elliot. 

 By Professor Owen, F.^R.S., F.Z.S., dx: 



Head May iJth, 1867. 



XN relation to my paper on Indian Cetacea, read before this Society on the 26th of 

 June 1865, and published in the Society's 'Transactions'', I have received the following 

 letter from Sir "Walter Elliot, K.S.I. , F.Z.S., to whom I w^as indebted for the specimens 

 upon which my observations were based. 



Travellers' Club, loth April, 1807. 



" Dear Prof. Owen, — Soon after my arrival in town a few weeks ago, my attention 

 was called to some of the details in your paper on Indian Cetacea, in the Zoological 

 Society's ' Transactions.' In replying to some inquiries of Mr. Flower, at the College 

 of Surgeons, regarding the skull of Physeter simus, I noticed that you had described 

 two individuals, a male and a female, whereas I had never met with more than a single, 

 female specimen of this animal. I was puzzled to account for this ; but as Mr. Sclater, 

 who was with me at the time, stated that the original drawings from which the Plates 

 had been taken were at the Zoological Society's office, I took an early opportunity of 

 referring to them. I also sent to Scotland for a note-book in which I had entered 

 remarks on specimens as th(!y were obtained. On comparing these with your paper I 

 found that the inaccuracies I had observed had been caused entirely by my own careless- 

 ness in furnishing you with the scanty and imperfect materials on which your paper 

 was founded, and by my omission to elimmate a faulty drawing. 



" You may remember that I first brought the crania to you in 1863, to know whether 

 you thought them of sufficient interest to be described. On my return to Scotland, I 

 sent you drawings with some remarks of my own, but overlooked the faulty figure 

 entirely, which thus remained in the packet with the true ones. In April 1865 you 

 wrote to me for some further mformation with reference to the notes written on the 

 drawings, and added that you could only find two skulls, although my notes refen-ed 

 to others. In reply I sent you copies of all the memoranda I could find, and said that 

 the crania must be with you, as I had left them all at the Museum. I came to London 

 some weeks later, and on calling to see you I found the crania were still missing ; but 

 they were subsequently discovered, and your paper was prepared. 



" To account for the origin of the erroneous figure, I must premise that the office I 

 held in Madras from 1849 to 1854 was a very laborious one. demanding my whole 



' Vi>l. vi. p. 17. 



