NORTHERN SPECIES OF ORCA. 165 



this animal, and in putting it into the system as a new species, with the character : DelpUnns 

 orea, dorsi pinna cdtissima, dentibus subconicis, parum incurvis} 



This new species of Orca [pinna dorsi aUissima), is introduced into the system by 0. F. 

 Miiller in his work, ' Prodomus Zoologiæ Danicæ ' (1776), and placed by the side of the Linnean 

 Orca, and at the same time the Linnean Physeter tursio, which had previously been cha- 

 racterised by a very high dorsal fin, was omitted by this author, as if he supposed that Sibbald's 

 ' specimen, on which this Physeter pinna dorsi altissima had been founded, was an Orca with a 

 high dorsal fin. But singularly enough (following Strom's example), he also referred the Norwegian 

 " Staurhynning " (synonymous with the " Stour-Vang,"), to the Linnean Physeter microps, 

 as if he supposed that " Staurhynnings " with toothless upper jaws also existed. In Greenland 

 O. Fabricius became acquainted both with high-finned and low-finned killers, the former by 

 the name of Ardlurk-soak, the latter by the name of Ardluk. In the former, he recognised the 

 D. orca pinna dorsi altissima, dentibus subconicis, parum incurvis, described by Gunnerus ; but 

 in endeavouring to keep up all the Linnean species, he transferred this character to the JD. orca 

 of Linnæus, which was thus made to comprehend all killers with high dorsal fins. But then he 

 did not find any special name in the Linnean genus Delphinus for the killers with low dorsal 

 fins, but after having quite arbitrarily transferred the Linnean specific name Ph. catodon (the 

 small cachalots from the Orkneys : dorso impenni, fistula in rostrd), to the Greenland Pernak, 

 with the character, dorso pinnato, apice dentum piano, he still found the specific name 

 Ph. microps {Ph. dorso spina longa, maæilla superiore longiore), which he thought might be 

 applied to the killers with low dorsal fins. 0. F. Miiller had already, as we have just stated, 

 partly referred the Staurhynning to this species ; so also did Fabricius, but he further added the 

 " Lille- Vagn " of the Norwegians, which was then quite naturally followed by the Ardluk. 

 It now followed that the low-finned killers were supposed to be toothless in the upper jaw. 

 The Greenlanders, indeed, told Fabricius, that the Ardluk had teeth in the upper jaw, and he 

 had himself never had an opportunity of examining any part of them but the lower jaw.. 

 He was also aware, even better than any other naturalist, that these Ardluk were fierce 

 beasts of prey, in the same sense of the word as the Ardlurksoak ; he states himself that the 

 former and the latter live in common, and nobody has described better than he the manner 

 in which the Ardluk hunt the seals. But at that time it was a very common supposition 

 that the cachalots were even fiercer animals than the killers. Fabricius moreover had no 

 certain proof that these Ardluk might not after all be toothless in the upper jaw, and by 

 supposing them to be so, he contrived to have all these different toothed-whales arranged 

 within the Linnean system, which at that time people were inclined to consider as infallible. 

 Thus the low-finned killers were referred to the cachalots, among which they received the name 

 of Ph. microps. 



The consequence of this great error was that the whole excellent description which Fabricius 

 had given of the manner in which the seals are hunted by the killers, was now applied to a 

 species of cachalot. Thus, the already very common notion about the cachalots, that they feed 

 on warm-blooded animals — though we now know, that they live almost exclusively on cephalopods, 

 as is proved even by the position of their teeth, which are only used by the males as 

 weapons of attack when in a state of irritation — was still further confirmed, nay all those 



^ ' Det Kongl. Norske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter,' 4de Deel, Kbhvn., 1768, p. 110. 



