NORTHERN SPECIES OF ORCA. 



179 





The High-finned Killers. 



The Low-finned Killers. 



1. Size .... 



Up to about 23' (24 Swedish) ft 



Up to about 15'4" (16| Swedish) 

 ft. 



2. Number of ribs 



12 



11 



3. Form of the head 



Breadth to length about as 8 : 12 



Breadth to length as 7 : 12 



4. Protuberance formed by the 

 frontal and the nasal 

 bones .... 



More elevated. 



Less elevated and pointing more 

 backward 



5. Ankylosis of the cervical ver- 

 tebræ .... 



3 foremost by the bodies 

 6 foremost by the spinous pro- 

 cesses 



2 foremost by the bodies 



3 or 4 foremost by the spinous 



processes 



6. Attrition of the teeth 



All worn off at the points 



Only the foremost worn off at 

 the points 



7. Number of the carpal 

 bones .... 



5 



2 



8. Number of the phalanges in 

 the thumb 

 „ „ second finger 

 )> 3j third „ 

 )> 1! fourth „ 

 fifth „ 



1 



6 

 4 

 3 

 2 



1 



5 or 4 

 3 

 2 

 2 



The author remarks himself, that some of the osteological characters here mentioned, may, 

 indeed, have originated in differences of age, and this remark is so true, that it seems to me we 

 had better immediately strike out of the list all those with which this is more particularly the 

 case. Among these we reckon, in the first instance, the wear of the teeth ; for that the crowns of 

 the teeth may be worn quite off in a low-finned Orca has been proved especially by Mr. 

 Bloch's specimen in the museum of the University (for the dorsal fin was in this, about seven- 

 teen and a half feet long individual, only 1' 8^" high), and that the teeth of an Orca, said to 

 have been four fathoms long, with a dorsal fin three ells high, may even be perfectly uninjured 

 at the points, we have an equally decisive proof in the account given by Bishop Gunnerus compared 

 with the two figures accompanying it of two of the teeth.^ 



Then the character derived from the number of the carpal bones, supposed to have been 

 five in Professor Nilsson's (as well as in Mr. Benzon's specimen), but only two in those fi-om Bergen, 

 must evidently be struck out of the list, for we believe it to be quite certain that all killers have 

 five bones in this part of the manus, as represented in the woodcut, p. 173, only that in dried 



^ 'Del Kgl. Norske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter/ 4 Deel., tab. xii, ffg. 2 og 3. 



