12. BELUGA. 309 



Length of skull h, entire, 21 inches, of nose 10, of tooth-line 

 6^ ; width at orbit llj, at notch 6f inches. 



Skeleton i length 13 feet ; head 2 feet 2 inches. Vertebrse 50 or 

 51, vix. cervical 7, dorsal 11, lumbar and caudal 32 or 31 ; ribs 10, 

 sternal ribs 6. The pectoral fins with five fingers, the fourth longest, 

 then the third, then the second, then the first the shortest of all the 

 five ; the first of three, the second of three, the third of four, the fourth' 

 of six, and the last of two, short, thick phalanges. Eibs affixed to 

 the sternum; sternum elongate, three times as long as broad in 

 front, narrowed behind. The first four ribs attached at nearly equal 

 distances on the sides, the two hinder ones affixed close together on 

 the hinder outer edge of the contracted back margin. 



M. Van Beneden observes that he has seen skulls varying from 



8 8 10 10 . JO 



sTi ^^ ioTTo' ^^^ ^ intermediate combinations ; ^ seem the most fre- 

 quent (Nouv. Mem., Acad. Brux. xxxii. 16). 



"The Whitefish consumes enormous quantities of Sepia loligo, 

 Oadus ceglefirvas, and large prawns." — Eschricht, Ann. Sf Mag. N. H. 

 1852, ix. 289, communicated by Captain Holboll. 



Two males were cast ashore on the beach of the Pentland Prith, 

 some miles east of Thurso, in August 1793 {Colonel Murie). A 

 specimen was killed near Stirling in June 1815, and described by 

 Dr. Barclay and Mr. NeU in "Wem. Mem. iii. 371. t. 27. 



It commonly ascends the rivers in Canada ; and Captain KeUett 

 brought a skuU from Behring's Straits. Schrenck records it in his 

 Zoology of Amuiland, 190. 



Duhamel (tab. 10. f. 4) figured the front half of a Dolphin, 12 feet 

 long, under the name of Dauphin hlane du Canada, which Desmarest 

 has named Belphinus Canadensis. M. de Blainville gave me a tracing 

 of the original drawing from which Duhamel engraved his figure 

 (which is copied in the ' Zoology of the Erebus and Terror,' t. 5. 

 f. 1). The form of the beak and the absence of a distinct dorsal fin 

 induced me to believe that it might be a species of Inia ; but from 

 inquiries recently made in Canada, I have very little doubt that 

 Duhamel's animal was the Beluga which is common in that country. 

 In the St. Lawrence they rarely exceed 15 feet long. 



Professor Eschricht observes on this figure, " I shall hardly be 

 considered too bold if I take the figure to represent simply a White- 

 fish whose short and blunt snout the inexperienced draughtsman had 

 mended a Uttle."— ^nn. Sf Mag. N. H. 1852, ix. 164. 



Professor Eschricht says that Cuvier's Belphinus rostratus was 

 established on this figure of Duhamel ; but M. Cuvier, on the con- 

 trary, says that it was described from the specimen that was formerly 

 in the Lisbon Museum, and thence removed to Paris, which is Inia 

 Geoffroyii.—See Ann. Sf Mag, N. H. 1852, ix. 163. 



2. Beluga Eingii. The Australian Beluga. 

 Nose of the skull short, not half the entire length, scarcely longer 

 than its width at the notch; teeth ^, small, hooked. 



Delphinus (DelpMnapterus) Kingii, Gray, Ann. Phil. 1827, 375: 

 Fischer, Syn. 514. 



