1. PIATANISTA-. 221 



foretead. Teeth in both jaws at first subcylindrical, becoming com- 

 pressed. 



PlatanistidsB, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863. 



Delphinidse Platanistina, Gray, Zool. JE. & T. 45, 1846; Cat. Cetac. 

 B.M.Ql&lSQ. 



1. PLATANISTA. 



Head convex ; beak compressed, curved up at the end. Teeth at 

 first subcylindrical, at length compressed. Dorsal none. Back keeled 

 in the place of the fin, and obliquely truncate behind. Pectoral fan- 

 shaped, truncated. Blowhole single, longitudinal. Fingers 5, four 

 subequal, outer shortest. Scapula with a large acromion process, 

 and without any ridge. — Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. t. 22. figs. 8, 9, 10. 



Platanista, Pliny ; " Cuvier, 1829," fide Lesson, Tab. Pig. Anim. 198 ; 



Wagler, N. 8. Amph. 35, 1830; Gray, Must. Ind. Zool.; Zool. E. 



6f T. 45; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863. 

 Platanistina, Gray, Zool. Ereh. ^ Terr, (misprint). 

 Susu, Lesson, CEuvr. Bwffon, i. 316, 1828; Tab. B^g. ^mm. 198. 

 Delphinorhynchus, sp., Lesson. 

 BelpMnus, sp., Lebeck. 



The eyes extraordinarily small in diameter, only 1^ line. It may 

 be called a Blind Whale, for the perforations for the optic nerve in 

 the skull are only rudimentary. The ear situated considerably above 

 the eye. The spiracle is a simple longitudinal fissure, measuring 

 1 inch 9 1 Hues, its anterior end exactly in a vertical line above the 

 eye; it is a perfectly straight longitudinal slit, without the faint 

 double curve of' an 8 attributed to it by Lebeck and Eoxburgh. 

 Female sexual organs about 2 inches long, showing nothing remark- 

 able in form, nor in the furrows in which the papiUee are situated. 

 The tongue exceedingly short, adnate in its whole circumference, 

 and reaching only as far as the point where the jaw contracts itself 

 into a narrow rostrum. The body enveloped in a thick layer of 

 fat, measuring 1| inch in thickness. Colour of the back dark lead- 

 grey; under the belly somewhat lighter, though not much. — 

 Eschricht, Ann. ^ Mag. If. H. 1852, 284. 



Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. 307) describes the skeleton of this genus, 

 and figures some of the bones. 



Professor Owen describes the skull and teeth of an old and young 

 specimen (Cat. Osteol. CoU. Mus. Coll. Surg. ii. 449). Professor 

 Keinhardt has described its general anatomy (Dan. Vet. Selsk. for 

 1851) ; a translation of the paper, by Dr. Wallich, appeared in the 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, for March and April 1852. It was from a 

 young specimen caught in a fish-net and sent to Denmark in spirits. 

 M. Kousseau gives some observations on the anatomy (Mag. Zool. 

 1856, 204) ; and I gave some observations on the change in the 

 form of the jaws and teeth during the growth of the animal, in the 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1862. 



Professor Owen observes, " In the length of the mandibular sym- 

 physis the Platanista resembles the Physeter ; in the broad convergLag 



