1. HYPEROODON. 335 



teeth. The lower jaw, on the elevation of the gum, showed two 

 conical teeth, hidden in the gum, free from all attachment. These 

 teeth were hollow from the base to the summit and slightly curved 

 at the end, and the surface was traversed by three irregularly 

 festooned zones and a fourth zone near the tip. The blower was 

 crescent-shaped, concave in front, convex behind, with the tip sUghtly 

 recurved. The body was entirely shining black, like varnished 

 leather. Vertebrse 46 : cervical 7, soldered together ; 9 dorsal, the 

 first soldered by its body to the cervical ; 11 lumbar ; 19 caudal. 

 The upper spinose apophysis is partly wanting on the eleventh caudal 

 vertebra, and the transverse apophysis is partly wanting on the 

 eighth. There are 8 chevron bones ; the two branches of the first are 

 not united. The tail is crescent-shaped, without any notch in the 

 centre. 



Length, entire 6*70 metres. 



Length to blowers 1-24 metre. 



Length to eye 1"06 „ 



Length to point of dorsal 4-40 metres. 



Length of pectoral : 0-70 metre. 



Length to vent 6'17 metres. 



Breadth of pectoral 1-40 m^tre. 



Breadth of face 0-86 „ 



Circumference 3*76 metres. 



M. Wesmael observes that five persons have described this animal 

 from personal inspection, viz. Dale, Chemnitz, Hunter, Baussard, 

 andVoigt; and the principal points on which they differ are the 

 following : — 



1. The presence or absence of teeth in the lower jaw. Dale and Voigt 



do not mention them ; Chemnitz, Hunter, and Baussard indi- 

 cate two. 



2. The presence of small, hard, acute points in the palate is men- 



tioned by Baussard alone. 



3. The form of the blower. Dale and Baussard describe it as cres- 



cent-shaped, with the points directed backwards. Voigt says 

 it is concave, with the points directed forwards. Chemnitz and 

 Hunter are silent on this point. 



4. The colour. Dale, Hunter, Baussard, and Voigt describe the belly 



as paler than the back ; and Chemnitz describes the body as 

 entirely black. 



5. The number of the vertebrae. The specimen of Hunter, according 



to M. Gr. Cuvier, was 21 feet long, and had 45 vertebrae, viz. 



7 cervical (soldered together), 9 dorsal, 12 lumbar, and 17 



caudal. „ ,^ 



Baussaed. Dale. 



Adult. Young. Female. Male. 



ft. in. ft. in. ft. ft. 



Length, entire 23 6 12 6 13 18 



Length of beak 5 



Length to blower 4 4 1 11 



