DELPHINIDE 269 
Premanillie strongly concave in front of the nares, as wide at the 
middle of the rostrum as at the base, or wider, and very nearly or 
completely concealing the maxille in the anterior half of this 
region. Pterygoids of normal form, meeting, or very nearly so, 
in the middle line. Vertebre: C 7, D 11, L 12-14, C 28-29; 
total 58 or 59. Bodies of the anterior five or six cervical vertebrae 
united. Length of the bodies of the lumbar and anterior caudal 
vertebrs about equal to their width. Pectoral limb very long and 
narrow, the second digit the longest, and having as many as 12 
or 13 phalanges, the third shorter (with 9 phalanges), the first, 
fourth, and fifth very short. Fore part of the head very round, in 
consequence of the great development of a cushion of fat, placed 
on the rostrum of the skull in front of the blowhole. Dorsal fin 
low and triangular, the length of its base considerably exceeding its 
vertical height. 
The type of this well-marked genus is G. melas, the Pilot 
Whale, Caing Whale, or Grindhval of the Faroe islanders, which 
attains the length of 20 feet, and is of nearly uniform black colour, 
except the middle of the under surface, which is lighter. These 
animals are extremely gregarious, and, unlike the Killers, are mild 
and inoffensive in disposition, feeding principally on cephalopods. 
Their eminently sociable character constantly leads to their destruc- 
tion, since when attacked they instinctively rush together and 
blindly follow the leaders of the herd. When they are seen in 
the neighbourhood of land, the fishermen endeavour to get to sea- 
ward of them in their boats, and with shouting and firing of guns 
to drive them into a bay or fjord, pursuing them until they run 
themselres on shore in their alarm. In this way many hundreds 
at a time are frequently driven ashore 
and killed, when a herd enters one of 
the bays or fjords of the Faroe Islands 
or north of Scotland. Animals of this 
well-marked genus are found in nearly 
all seas, and their specific distinctions 
are not yet made out. Specimens from 
the Australian coasts, where they are 
generally called “Blackfish,” are quite 
indistinguishable, either by external or 
osteological characters, from those of the 
North Atlantic. 
Teeth, periotic (Fig. 96) and tym- 
panic bones from the Suffolk Crag, 
described as G. uncidens, indicate a form 
apparently closely allied to the existing 
species. 
Fia. 96.—The left periotic bone 
of Globicephalus uncidens ; from the 
Suffolk Crag. Natural size. The 
grooved surface on the right is the 
anterior facet for articulation with 
the tympanic; the posterior tym- 
panic articulation being on the op- 
posite side of the figure. (From the 
Cat. Foss. Mumm. Brit, Mus. pt. v.) 
The periotic is figured in order to illustrate the dis- 
tinctive characters of that bone in the Delphinide. 
