100 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The White Whale is captured for its blubber, chiefly in the 

 Arctic Seas, though it sometimes travels southwards, and several 

 have been stranded or captured on our shores. One passed the 

 Gatty Marine Laboratory on a Sunday a year or two ago, and 

 was probably that caught shortly afterwards at Cullercoats, and 

 described by Prof. Meek. The whalers occasionally drive them 

 into shallow water, especially when they see Killers after them, 

 and kill them with lances, or into narrow bays, when their 

 escape is prevented by strong nets. One ship in 1883 secured 

 twelve hundred. 



Besides the interest directly connected with the commercial 

 value of the Toothed Whales, the natives along the banks of the 

 Irrawaddy believe that a bluish fresh-water Dolphin {Orcella 

 fluviatilis), described by Dr. John Anderson, purposely draws 

 fishes into their nets, and each fishing village has its particular 

 guardian Dolphin, which receives a special name. Moreover, 

 suits are not infrequently brought into 'the native courts to 

 recover a share in the capture of fishes in which a plaintiffs 

 Dolphin has been held to have filled the nets of a rival fisher- 

 man. It need hardly be said that this superstition makes it 

 difficult to obtain specimens. 



A few remarks may be added about the homologies and the 

 probable origin of the peculiar mammals just considered. Un- 

 fortunately Palaeontology gives comparatively little help in the 

 solution of these problems, though, as Sir William Flower 

 suggests, it is possible that their absence from the Cretaceous 

 seas may be accounted for by the supposition that the group 

 was originally a fresh-water one, like Platanista of the Ganges, 

 and the Inia of the Amazon, both of which retain certain 

 generalized characters. 



From the complex stomach of the Toothed Whales, the 

 simple condition of the liver, and the structure of the respiratory 

 organs, the great anatomist, John Hunter, was of opinion that 

 they approached the Ungulates, or hoofed animals, the primary 

 form of which was probably omnivorous, like the pig. Others, 

 again, think that they have been derived from the carnivorous 

 animals through the Seals and Walruses. Prof. Huxley sees in 

 the teeth of Zeuglodon the connecting-link between the Cetaceans 



