

THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 837.— March. 1911. 



A BKIEP SKETCH OF THE TOOTHED WHALES 

 (ODONTOCETI). 



By Prof. McIntosh, M.D., LL.D., F.E.S., Gatty Marine 

 Laboratory, St. Andrews. 



Amongst the larger denizens of the sea few are of greater 

 interest either to the naturalist or to the ordinary observer 

 than the Whales, or Cetaceans, as they are called ; nor is this 

 due alone to their size and strength, but to their peculiar 

 habits, and in some cases to their intrinsic value. Moreover, in 

 this group are the most gigantic types of living animals (for 

 example, Sibbald's Eorqual, the Whalebone Whale, and the 

 Spermaceti Whale), the former surpassing in bulk anything 

 known in former epochs of the world's history.* The vast size 

 of some is a feature of moment, since amongst mammals it 

 often happens that the primaeval forms exceeded in bulk those 

 now living. Thus the gigantic Mammoth (Elephas primigenius) 

 from the frozen soil of the alluvial plains of Siberia, and the 

 giant Ground- Sloths {Megatherium and Mylodon) of the ancient 

 tropical forests of South America much exceeded in size the 

 living representatives of the respective groups. Unfortunately, 

 also, the same may now be said of the Sirenians, since Steller's 

 Rhytina — discovered at Behring's Island only in 1741 — perished 

 utterly in 1782, or in little more than forty years. This huge 

 Sea-Cow, 25 ft. in length and weighing three or four tons, 

 browsed on the tangles in the shallows along the seashore, and 



* ThoTigli some Zeuglodonts reached 70 ft. in length. 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. XV., March. 1911. H 



