SCANDINAVIAN CETACEA. 241 



vertebræ 13 (I counted 15 in a skeleton at Lund), caudal vertebræ 32 ; in all, with the 7 cervical 

 vertebræ, 65 vertebræ. The 18 last caudal vertebræ are without processus transversa Processus 

 spinosi inferiores 18. The sternum consists of only 1 bone. 5 pairs of costæ veræ. 



The porpoise is the most common of this family in the seas on our coasts as far as Finmark, 

 and on the coast of Europe generally. There is probably something periodical in its appearance, 

 at least in the Baltic. It has been observed on the Danish coast that it runs from the Cattegat to 

 the Baltic through Oresund in the spring, and returns through the Little Belt^ in the autunm. I 

 saw several specimens in the sea off Christianopel, in Blekinge, on 11th June last ; and, according 

 to C. Sundevall, it has been seen in the sea at the inlet to Stockholm. It appears also on the 

 western coast of Greenland. This species is social, although not so much so as the preceding; 



Afli Genus. Delphinapteuus, Lacépede. 



Nose short and rounded ; head very convex in front. The opening into which the blowers 

 are united on the upper part of the head, far behind the point of the snout, and transverse in 

 direction. No dorsal fin. General form of the body very thick ; obtuse in front ; sharply taper- 

 ing backwards, especially when seen from above, and very much compressed before the caudal 

 fin. Both jaws armed with a small number (10 or less) of conical, obtuse, thinly-set teeth, that 

 become more or less deciduous with age. 



The beak of the skull is rather broad and obtuse, and somewhat shorter than the hinder 

 part of the head ; the facial section convex in front of the blowers, and, when seen from the side, 

 somewhat descending forward. Teeth-line in lower jaw, as well as symphysis of the lower jaw- 

 bones, shorter than half the length of these bones. The skeleton generally is distinguished b)^ a 

 small number of vertebræ. 



Two species of this genus are known, one from the northern Polar regions, and one from the 

 seas near Australia ;" the former is said to appear sometimes off the extreme northern coasts 

 of Norway. The Zoological Museums of Norwaj^, however, afford no evidence of its existence 

 there. 



1. D. Leucas, Pallas. The Northern Beluga. 



Beak somewhat, hut not materially, shorter than the hinder part of the skull, and its length 

 considerably (jreater than its width at the base or notch. 



DELPHiNrs LEUCAS, Pallus. Keisen, &c., Ill, p. 92, tab. Ixxiv, 1776. 

 Bal.ena albicans, O. F. Miiller. Zoologiæ Danicæ Prodromus, p. 7, 1776. 



^ Compare what is stated in Skand. Fauna, p. 618, about its migration through the Little Belt. 

 " D. Kincdl (Gray), ' Voy. Erebus and Terror. Cetacea,' p. 30. 



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