Cetacea. 1463 



taken from the French specimen, which was first examined by 

 De Blainville, * and afterwards noted by Cuvierf in his * Histoire 

 Naturelle des Mammiferes.' Several years after this, Frederick 

 CuvierJ published a good description, accompanied with figures 

 of the animal and skull. Until 1838, all authors who mentioned this 

 whale, simply copied what had been said before them, but in 1839 

 M. Dumortier read to the Royal Institute of Brussels § an interesting 

 memoir on the one stranded on our coast ; this paper was accompanied 

 with plates. 



In October, 1841, Professor Cocco, of Messina, published || a de- 

 scription of a female dolphin, fifteen feet long, and weighing 25,000 

 pounds, which was procured by him on the coast of Scilly. A letter 

 of his on this animal, addressed to Professor R. A. Philippi, is pub- 

 lished in German^ in Wiegmann's e Archiv fur Naturgeschichte,' in 

 which he proposes to name this animal after the first-mentioned gen- 

 tleman, "Delphinus Philippi." Professor A. Wagner** justly re- 

 marks that he does not perceive any particular difference between 

 this specimen and the Del. micropterus of Cuvier, which, according to 

 his views, is identical with D. Desmarestii, found and described by 

 Risso,ft from an individual stranded in the Mediterranean.^ t 



Professor Cocco says his animal differs from Delphinus (Hyperoo- 

 don) edentulus of Schrebers, from D. bidentatus of Sowerby, &c, but 

 does not inform us how to distinguish it from D. micropterus, which 

 he does not mention. 



I do not well understand on what grounds Mr. Gray§§ sinks the 

 Physeter bidens, Delphinus Sowerbyi, and D. micropterus into one 



species, when their osteology has been proved different by M. 



/ 



* Delphin. Dalei, frlainv. Nouv. Bull. Sc. iv. 139, and Bull. Soc. Philom. 1825. 



f Del. Dalei, Cuv. Hist. Nat. Mamnrif. liv. 53. Del. micropterus, Cuv. Reg. Anim. 

 t. 288. Heterodon Dalei Less. Man. 419. Hist, de Cetac. 



+ Delphinorhynchils micropterus, F. Cuv. Hist. Nat. Cetac. 75 et 114, pi. 7, 8, 

 fig.l. 



§ Delphinorhynchus micropterus. Dum. Mem. Ac. Roy. Brux. vol. xii. 1839. 



|| Delphin. Philippi. Cocco Maurol. Journ. Messin. i. N. 4. 



U Arch. Nat. Wiegm. vol. xii. 104. 



** Idem. 



ft Hist. Nat. Nice, t. 3. pi. 2. f. 3. 



J+I believe this, however, to be erroneous, as the D. Desmarestii, Riss. which 

 measured the same length as D. Philippi, had two large conical teeth, which are miss- 

 ing (even to the alveolae) in the lower jaw in the last-named. Besides which, the 

 Desmarestii is said to have the tail festooned, and white maculations on the back, of 

 which not the slightest trace is discoverable in our specimen. 



§§ Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. 1846, p. 83. 



