172 . PEOFESSOE OWEN ON INDIAN CETACEA. 



time, and leaving little leisure for other pursuits. Having always been fond of natural 

 history, I kept a draughtsman continually engaged in depicting objects of interest. 

 My house was on the sea-shore, and the fishermen from several miles along the coast 

 used almost daily to bring me something or other which they considered to be rare 

 or curious. But as I went to my office at 10 o'clock a.m., and did not retuin till 6 

 or 7 P.M., my artist had orders to proceed with his sketches as soon as the speci- 

 mens were brought to him. On my return home in the evening, my first business 

 was to inspect his work. By dint of constant supervision, I brought him to the exercise 

 of scrupulous accuracy. If I found the least mistake, I had another cb-awing made the 

 following day. He was principally engaged on naked mollusks, Crustacea, and the 

 mutations of lepidoptera, which he drew with the aid of the microscope. To the 

 exactitude of these, Messrs. Alder and Hancock's paper on the Indian Nudibranchs, in a 

 former volume of the ' Transactions,' bears testimony. 



" The Wongu or Flvjseter was brought to my house on the 28th of February, 1853. 

 On examining the sketch the same evening, I was not satisfied with it, and therefore 

 directed a more accurate drawing to be made, which was done, under my inspection, 

 early the following morning. I was much interested in the specimen, which I believed 

 to exhibit an entirely new form ; and I made the following note in pencil on the back of 

 the revised drawmg, which is still legible : — ' If the description of the Porpoise-family 

 is correct, this must be a very different genus. The mouth is small, very much under 

 the rounded snout, not reaching so far back as the eye, which is far above it, in a line 

 with the rounded snout. The blow-hole is in fi-ont of the eyes, and (in this individual') 

 to the left of the middle line of the back, opening diagonally, with the points curving 

 slightly backwards. Colour above shining black, smooth ; beneath pale, and in this one 

 discoloured with blood. Fore part {i. e. in front of the dorsal) depressed ; behind the 

 D. much compressed ; the part nearest the tail rising into a sharp ridge.' On the face 

 of the drawing I wrote in ink ' new sp. Tel. name, womju: adult ? : Waltair, March 1, 

 1853;' and under the mouth I noted the dentition '^.^.' On the first or cancelled 

 sketch, the only writing was a note in the handwriting of the painter, ' Found at 

 Waltair on the 28th Feby. '53,' and, in Telugu characters, the name ' uwngu.' 



"Having completed the drawing, I made the foUowmg entry in my note-book : — 

 'March 1, 1853. — A large Porpoise was brought by the Vizagapatam fishermen, of 

 which the following is the description :— 



ft. in. 

 Total length 7 2 



ft. in. ft. in. 



Fioni muzzle to spiracle 7 



From spiracle to dorsal 2 9 



From commencement of dorsal to end of caudal . . 3 10 



7 2 



' I then tliouglit this circumstance was accidental. 



