8. PSETJDOBCA. 291 



The bladebone a nearly equilateral triangle, with an arched upper 

 edge ; a large coracoid and acromion process, which are narrow at 

 the base and dilated at the end. Eibs 10 . 10. The humerus short, 

 subtrigonal, broad at the distal end. The ulna thick, compressed, 

 nearly twice as long as the humerus, the ulna rather produced at 

 the upper outer edge. Metacarpi 5, subtriangular ; fingers 5, taper- 

 ing : the second longest, of seven joints ; the third very little shorter, 

 of six joints ; the fourth very short and thick, of three short joints ; 

 the fifth very short and thick, of two joints ; and the first shorter 

 stiU and more slender, of a single joint (see Eeinhardt, 142, fig. 3, 

 one-third size). Cervical vertebrse anchylosed (see Owen, Brit. Fossil 

 Mammalia, fig. 214. p. 520, and side view of skull, f. 213, and 

 palate, f. 216). 



Dr. Eeinhardt states that in one specimen there were all the seven, 

 and in the other only six, cervical vertebrae united, while in a third 

 there were only five, including the first ; and he believes that this is 

 dependent on age. The lateral process of the atlas is strongly 

 developed. 



2. Pseudorca meridionaJis. The Tasmanian Blackfish. 



Colour, black on the back and sides, lighter below. Males much 

 larger than the females. Head obtuse, after the fashion of the 

 Sperm Wbale. Pectoral fins small; dorsal fin hook-shaped, and 

 situated about two-thirds along the body towards the tail. Teeth 

 jg^, very large, rather compressed on the sides. Nose of skuU 

 broad, tapering, rounded above. Lower jaw broad, and flat at the 

 symphysis. 



Orca (Pseudorca F) meridionalis, W. Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, 



f. 1 & 2 (skull). 

 Blackflah, Van Diemen's Land whalers. 



Inhab. Van Diemen's Land: Hobart Town; called with other 

 whales Blackfish ( W. L. Crowther). Two skuUs, Mus. CoU. Surg. 



" To find distinctive characters to separate the present species from 

 0. crassidens is a matter of greater difficulty. I speak of the animal 

 now existing in the northern seas, which Eeinhardt has fully de- 

 scribed in an illustrated memoir in the Danish language, and which 

 he believes to be identical with the Lincolnshire specimen. 



" The beak is much more pointed at the extremity, and the pre- 

 maxillaries are of different form. In Pseudorca crassidens they are 

 of nearly equal breadth from one end to the other, their outer 

 margins being almost parallel; in the Tasmanian skuUs they are 

 contracted at the root of the beak, and then gradually expand to 

 about the middle, beyond which they slowly diminish in breadth to 

 the point. An examination of the skulls placed side by side might 

 possibly reveal other differentiating characters; but I think that 

 these are sufficient, together with the great improbability of the 

 same species being found in such widely different regions, to justify 

 my regarding the small Grampus from Tasmania, however familiar 



v2 



