FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 143 



Fossil Narwhals and Cetacea, 

 Approaching the Hyper oodontes and Cachalots. 



The osteology of the cetacea was too little known, even a 

 comparatively short time back, to distinguish the Narwhal by 

 any character but the long tusk. This, however, is one not 

 easily mistaken, if met with. Still the examples of it are very 

 rare, and, what is more, by no means well authenticated. 



Mr. Parkinson speaks of two fragments of it in the Leverian 

 museum, and suspects that they were found on the coast of 

 Essex, 



Georgi, in his description of the Russian empire, speaks of a 

 fossil tooth from Siberia, in the museum of St. Petersburgh ; of 

 another from the banks of the Indigirska ; and a third found 

 in a marsh near the Anadir. 



The geological position of these, and one or more other 

 fragments, is totally unascertained : it is, therefore, superfluous 

 to speak of them further than as affording a motive to ulterior 

 researches. 



The petrified head of some unknown genus of cetacea, ap- 

 proximating to the hyperoodontes and cachalots, was discovered 

 in 1804 on the coast of Provence. To this genus the Baron 

 gives the name of Ziphius. The head differs from that of the 

 hyperoodon, in the maxillary bones not forming vertical par- 

 titions on the sides of the muzzle, and in the partition be- 

 hind the nostrils not only rising vertically, but also curving, 

 so as to form a kind of half cupola over these cavities. The 

 species to which this head belonged, M. Cuvier calls Ziphius 

 cavirosiris. 



These portions of petrified heads, found in excavating the 

 basins of Anvers, presented generic characters, like those of 

 the last, with sufficient indications of a distinct species, to which 

 our author gives the name of Ziphius planirostris. 



A petrified fragment, preserved a long time in the Paris 



