66 MAMMALIA. 



clay, near Ding-wall, wliicli contains many sea-shells, and is 

 evidently a marine deposit ; but tlie spot where the vertebra was 

 found is three miles distant from the high-water mark, and twelve 

 feet in height above the present level of the sea* Many other 

 instances might be mentioned, and the petro-tjTiipanic, or ear- 

 bones, of Whales and Cachalots, which are not unfrequently met 

 with, have received the appellation of cetotolites. 



The Cachalots, or Sperm ^^Tiales, are altogether distinct from 

 the true Bahenidw, and Dr. Gray classes them as a distinct family, 

 Catodontidcc. Their affinity is indeed much nearer to the Dolphins 

 and Porpoises, so much so that they range quite naturally as 

 abnonnal members of the extensive family of Delph'mida. Indeed, 

 in one southern species, known as the Kogia or Eupliysetes Grayi, 

 not only is the size considerably reduced, but also the proportionate 

 dimensions of the head, bringing it nearer to the ordinary forms 

 of Dclphinkl(v.~\ 



Cachalot. — The Cachalot {PJujseter inacrocej)haJm) is of a con- 

 siderable size. In this respect certain Whales alone surpass it. It 

 attains to from twenty-four or twenty-six metres in length, and 

 to seventeen metres in circumference. Its head is about one- 

 third of the length of its whole body ; it is of a cylindrical shape, 

 slightly compressed and truncated in front. 



The Cachalot is an enormous cubic mass, of ten, twelve, or 

 fifteen metres in length, by four or five metres in breadth. When 

 a lifeless Cachalot is floating alongside of a ship, it wants some 

 reflection to discover its head : one would at first be tempted to 

 take this mass for a small half-submerged ship. 



The mouth opens on a level with the lower surface of this 

 monument of flesh and fat. The lower jaw is provided with large 

 conical teeth, all similar to each other, the number of which some- 

 times amounts to fifty-four. Corresponding with each tooth, there is 

 in the upper jaw a cavity adapted to receive it when the mouth is 

 shut. Behind and above the cleft of the mouth, or point of union of 

 the lips, is the eye, j^laced in a manner to enable it to see obliquely 

 on each side, in an angle of forty to fifty degrees with regard to the 

 axis of its body. This eye is small and black. Behind the eye 

 comes the orifice of the ear, which is hardly visible, and, farther 

 on, the flipper, which is very small. At the extremity of the 



* Owen's British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p. 562. 



