176 Tate on the Porpoise. 



I have Mr. Busk's authority for stating that our coral is the 

 Eschara cervicornis of his Catalogue of Marine Polyzoa, p. 92. 

 He is of opinion that it is identical with the Cellepora cervicornis 

 of my ' British Zoophytes/ The two specimens differ in habit, 

 one being attached by a solid expanded base, the other by a 

 cementation of the segments; — the C. cervicornis is, moreover, 

 more erect in its mode of growth, and more solid in its texture ; 

 but these differences may be the result of age, and of peculiarities 

 in the sites wherein the corals were developed. 



It would seem that although Eschara cervicornis has been often 

 mentioned in works on the British Fauna, there are very few 

 instances known of its occurrence on our coast. Dr. Fleming 

 has not included it in his ' History of British Animals/ so that 

 the evidence for its being a native production must have been 

 weak when that very valuable work was published. The 

 specimen described in my ' British Zoophytes' was procured from 

 the coast of Devonshire. Mr. Busk did not know the exact 

 habitat of his British specimen, for he seems to have seen only 

 one. Thus Mr. Embleton's is the third known British 

 specimen, and it is the more valuable as the locality is fully 

 ascertained. 



An Account of a herd of Round-headed Porpoises, or Caaing 

 Whales (Phocsena melas) which came ashore on the Northum- 

 berland coast on the 19/A day of March. By George 

 Tate, F.G.S. 



Early on Sunday morning, the 19th day of March last, a 

 number of Cetacea were found stranded among the rocks near 

 to Howick Burn Mouth. I visited the spot on the following 

 day, and saw thirty-five of these animals on the rocky shore, 

 most of them near to the high-tide mark. Fishermen had 

 commenced cutting off the blubber ; but as several individuals 

 were untouched, I had ample means of examining them, and 

 determining the species, which proved to be the Phocana melas. 

 I may be able to add little to what is known of the structure and 

 habits of these strange-looking animals ; yet as their appearance 

 on our coasts is a rare event, it deserves a record in our Pro- 

 ceedings. 



The Phoccena melas belongs to that division of the order 

 Cetacea which is characterized by the palate being destitute of 

 baleen or whalebone, by the jaws being furnished with teeth 

 and by the external orifice of the blow-hole being single. In, 

 the genus Phocana both jaws have numerous simple and equal 

 teeth, the head is obtuse, not beaked, and there is a dorsal fin. 



