26 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



Suborder Denticete (Tooth— Whale.) 

 Teeth nearly always present in the lower jaw and often in 

 the upiper; no baleen; rami of lower jaw united by a symphyseal 

 suture; olfactory organ rudimentary or absent; nostrils combin- 

 ing in one spiracle. 



Family Physeteridae. (The Sperm Whale.) 

 Lower jaw slender and set with teeth, usually numerous, 

 sometimes few; upper jaw large and toothless; head large; costal 

 cartileges not ossified; skull usually unsymmetrical. 



Subfamily Physeterinae. 



Lower jaw with numerous teeth, which are held in a long 

 groove by a strong fibrous gum-like substance; upper part of 

 cranium quite unsymmetrical through atrophism of the right 

 nostril. 



Two genera, each with one living species. They prefer 

 warm waters and are found in all open seas except the Arctic and 

 Antarctic Oceans, The food is squid, cuttlefish, octopus, etc. 

 Sperm \Miales are much less common now that formerly. 



Sperm Whale. 



Gemis Physeter Linneus. (To blow.) 

 Dorsal fin obsolete; pectoral fin short, broad; head long and 

 deep, squarish in front, with a large internal cavity filled with 

 oil; teeth 40 to 50; vertebrc-e 50; most of the cervical vertebra 

 united. 



