Celucea. 7125 



The cachelots or sperm whales {CatodontidfB of Dr. Gray), I humbly 

 consider to constitute a subfamily rather of Delphinida?, especially 

 since the discovery of that very remarkable small species, the Euphy- 

 setes Graii of Mr. W. S. Wall, Curator of the Australian Museum at 

 Sydney. That gentleman well argues the matter, in his ' History and 

 Description of a New Sperm Whale,' &c., of which he favoured me 

 with a copy. Unless the ear-bones before referred to belong to this 

 group we have only five teeth of a sperm whale. By whom pre- 

 sented I have been unable to discover. 



Mr. Polack has a curious statement regarding the sperm whale, to 

 which I invite attention. He says, " The cachelot is covered with an 

 outer cuticle, as transparent as gold-beater's skin, beneath which it is 

 covered with hair perfectly sleek and black, covered with an uliginous 

 matter, the texture and length resembling the clothing of the seal 

 tribe." 



Of ordinary Delphinidse, one of the most common species in the 

 Bay of Bengal is that generally known as the black-fish to seamen, 

 and named by me Globicephalus indicns in the 'Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society,' vol. xxi. p. 358. This was first noticed in vol. xix. p. 426 ; 

 a large herd or " school " (i. e. shoal) of these animals having been 

 carried into the salt-water lake east of Calcutta during the month of 

 July, 1852. It is remarkable that two specimens which 1 have since 

 obtained were procured during the same season of the same year, viz., 

 one taken in the Hugh near Serampore, 6^ feet long, in 1858, and a 

 newly-born young one during the year 1859, which was brought 

 to the Calcutta fish bazaar. The species is well distinguished from 

 G. Deductor of the Atlantic, of which we have a fine skull of an old 

 animal for comparison. The inler-maxillaries of the Indian species 

 are shorter and one-fourth broader, and the teeth are considerably 

 stouter. Colour of the animal, uniform leaden-black, slightly paler 

 underneath. Length of an adult male 14 feet, 2 inches ; the flippers 

 2 feet long, and 6 inches in greatest breadth. Length of dorsal fin, 2^ 

 feet, and height 11 inches. Breadth of tail-flukes 3 feet; and from vent to 

 cleft of tail, 4 feet 10 inches. Adult female rather smaller. The skeleton 

 of a female set up in our museum has a series of 49 vertebrae, additional 

 to the united cervical. There are 11 dorsal or costal, 12 lumbar 

 without the articulated V-bones, 16 with the latter, and 10 small caudal 

 within the tail-flukes. We possess skeletons of the adult male and 

 female, the latter set up ; the 6|^-foot example mounted as a stuffed 

 specimen ; and the new born young one as a skeleton. There is also a 

 skull of this species in the Museum of the Calcutta Medical College. 



