OETACEA. 65 



PHYSETERIDM. 



Genus PHYSETER, Linnaeus. 

 Physetek macbocephalus, linnmvs. 

 (^Sperm Whale.') 

 Plate VII., Fig. 1. 



A large tooth, obtained by Mr. Clement Reid, from the Forest- 

 bed of Sidestrand, near Cromer, and now in the Museum of 

 Practical Geology, has been referred by the writer (Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc, Vol. XLII., p. 316, 1886,) to Physeter macrocephalus, 

 a living species, which at the present day is found chiefly in 

 tropical and warmer temperate latitudes ; but occasionally wanders 

 further north, and has been found stranded on the shores of Great 

 Britain. 



The Sperm Whale was said by Mr. Charlesworth (Proc. Geol. 

 Soc, Vol. IV., p. 286, 1843, and Quart. Journ., Vol. I, p. 40, 1845) 

 to occur in the Red Crag ; but the tooth alluded to no doubt 

 belonged to the form now known as Eucetus. Apparently on 

 Mr. Charlesworth's authority Messrs. R. and A. Bell included this 

 species in the Red Crag fauna. 



Genus EUCETUS, Lu Bus. 



Eucetus amblyodon, du bus. 

 Plate VIII., Figs. 1. 2. 3. 



Some large Physeteroid teeth, 9 or 10 inches long, from the 

 Antwerp Crag, were named Eucetus amblyodon by Du Bus (Bull. 

 Ac. Roy. Belg., Ser. 2, Vol. XXIV., p. 572, 1867), and they were 

 further described and figured by Profs. Van Beneden and Gervais 

 (Osteographie des Cdtaces, p. 344, PI. XX., figs. 29, 30, 1880). 

 These teeth, like a large number of those from the English Crag, 

 have no enamelled crowns. Mr. Lydekker (Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc, Vol. XLIII., p. 13, 1887) says this form "is represented in 

 nearly all Crag collections by many teeth, which belong to the 

 type species, E. amblyodon ; the cement is of great thickness, 

 the dentine-core fusiform, and the osteodentine nodular. I 

 provisionally refer to this species a large left periotic in the 

 British Museum, which in the partial production of its posterior 

 extremity more nearly resembles the periotic of Hyperoodon 

 than that of Physeter." I accept Mr. Lydekker's reference of 

 these large teeth to Du Bus' Eucetus amblyodon, and I see no 

 reason for objecting to the provisional reference of the periotic in 

 the British Museum to the same species. 



Prof. Lankester (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, Vol. XXL, p. 231, 

 1865) included these large teeth with, Balcsnodon physaloides, 

 Owen ; but, for reasons given below, I am of opinion that Sir R. 

 Owen's species is quite distinct. 



o 63855. Ti! 



